UMBILO parents are appealing to the Durban community to assist them in locating their teenage daughter, who went missing over the weekend.
Olive van Wyk told Berea Mail said she was at her wits’ end, fearing the worst, because her daughter, 15-year-old Lauren van Wyk, was very vulnerable and needed to take her medication for severe depression.
The distraught mother said Lauren had left the house early on Saturday morning to walk to the shop at the BP service station on Umbilo Road, which is a short distance from their home. “She has undergone operations on her foot and has a ‘moon boot’, so isn’t even allowed to walk far with her foot like that. But she didn’t return and when we went to check at the shop she was already gone and her phone switched off.
“My biggest worry is that she called late on Sunday night, saying she was assaulted, but the phone went dead and I could not get hold of her again. There was no contact until I received a WhatsApp message on Monday afternoon, saying she misses me, but again the phone was switched off and I can’t call her back,” Van Wyk said.
The Umbilo mother reported the incident to Umbilo police and a missing person case has been opened. She said they had tried unsuccessfully to get the cellular network to trace her daughter’s phone. “All I want is for her to come home, she has to take her tablets because of her depression and can’t suddenly stop the meds, doctors have to slowly change them. I am so worried because she is very vulnerable,” Van Wyk said.
