By Bongekile Gumede
Family and friends of 35-year-old Nicholas Fuller, from Sydenham, are continuing the search for him after he went missing on Sunday, 12 June. According to Dawn Gounden, a missing persons expert from Renegades Search and Rescue, Fuller was last seen in Carrington Heights in the upper Umbilo area after he left home to meet with a friend around 9pm and never returned.
Gounden, who works within the child and POPI Act ambit of the law to bring closure to families of missing persons, said that none of the family members has information on the friend Fuller went to meet, however, they did receive information that he may have been seen in a Morningside pub on the same night.
“After following up on that information (footage from the alleged place he was last seen), neither Fuller nor his car came to the pub on that night and the family may have been misled. A few days into the search at various state hospitals, a mortuary and prison, his car was discovered at the Westwood Mall parking lot in Westville. Upon recovery of the car, it was established that the car’s plates were changed and a fake number plate was used, however, nothing was found to help with the search,” said Gounden.
She described Fuller as a 1.8m tall man about 105kg in weight, with short brown hair and a left upper-arm tattoo of a band including a moon, stars, birds and a tree. He was wearing a red jersey, beige trousers and grey takkies when he disappeared. “We are seeking assistance from the public to come forward with any information that could assist the SAPS and Renegades Search and Rescue to find Nicholas Fuller,” said Gounden.
She said a case was opened with the Umbilo SAPS and investigations are continuing, however, it was strange that Fuller’s car was somehow abandoned far from where he was last seen. Commenting on other scenarios where people have been reported missing, Gounden said that in a case where an adult is missing it is normally related to heath issues where the person may have dementia or Alzheimer’s disease.
“In such instances, the people leave home and are later found roaming the streets. When children or teenagers go missing it’s mostly associated with family issues where a child leaves home because they had altercations with family or they think they are better off alone as they do not want to listen to their parents or guardians. In other cases, people leave home because they have drug-related issues and very often it is those people who are found deceased,” said Gounden.
