Fears for missing Durban dad

Published Jan 22, 2014

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The family of a Durban man who went missing on Monday are starting to fear the worst.

Ian Henry, the manager of the Hillcrest branch of Bluff Meat Supply, failed to arrive at a meeting on Monday and has not been seen since.

On Tuesday, his wife, Trish, and children, Chad and Chanel, told of their fears. Speaking from their Bluff home, Trish said her husband had been seen at noon on the day of his disappearance going to a meeting in Springfield Park.

“Every Monday he leaves home early. He left us our coffee mugs ready, set breakfast as usual, before he went to work.

“He also leaves the phone by my bed so I can hear it when he calls me from work,” she said.

Trish said he called en route to work and again when he arrived.

“He also reminded me of the meeting, then called and said he was headed there,” she said.

“It’s so strange. He never even went there, and he hasn’t missed a meeting in 27 years,” she said.

Chanel described her father as a homebody.

“He hardly ever goes anywhere. We have called all his friends, workmates, and even family in Cape Town, and no one has heard from him, which is strange, as we are a very close-knit family,” she said.

According to the family, Henry had cancer in 2004 and had eight months of chemotherapy.

“He saw what that did to us. I don’t think my dad has left, as he knows what that would do to us.”

Employees at the butchery said Henry had been very quiet before his disappearance. Trish confirmed that her husband was reserved.

“I didn’t really think much of it. My husband works every day. Sometimes he gets all stressed by work. I thought it was that.”

Employees also told Trish that they had seen a pair of blue jeans and a T-shirt on the back seat of her husband’s vehicle.

“We have a million scenarios playing in our minds,” said Trish.

“If he has run off, we plead with him to send us a message and tell us not to worry. And if someone abducted him, please just let him go – don’t hurt him,” she said.

Henry was last seen wearing white pants and a white top. He was driving a silver Corsa bakkie with the registration NPN 11597.

Police spokesman Thulani Zwane said a missing person’s docket had been opened.

Meanwhile, the case involving Durban businessman Bruce Galloway, who was found in Kloof Gorge, also after an unexplained disappearance, in July last year, is still pending.

Investigating officer Chippy van der Heever said they still had no leads as to what had happened.

There is also no news of Barrydale farmer Andrew Whittingdale, who disappeared on the R62 in the Western Cape on January 4. His phone was tracked to Lesotho, and his bank account has been emptied.

The Mercury

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