Distraught mom cries over missing son

A desperate mother who has last seen her son on August 5 has accused the police at Florida of not doing enough to locate her son.

Norah Mahamed has told the Record that her son Craig Phillip Potgieter, was taken by Florida police at the beginning of September near Hamburg Station and has not been seen since.

“I have been looking for Craig since middle of September after his friends and acquaintances called me to ask if Craig was with me as he earlier indicated that he will be visiting his mother. That’s when I knew he was missing as they said it’s unusual for him not to be seen in Florida as he used to look for work or be with them,” said Mahamed.

According to Mahamed, her son is well-known in Florida and it is very unusual for him to just vanish into thin air.

Mahamed alleges that she got word in the past week that Florida police station members travelling in a police van took her son and another person as they had two containers of paint.

“I am not sure exactly what that means, whether it’s a theft charge or he knows about stolen paint. If it is a charge of theft, then why is it that he was not taken to Florida police station and booked for it?” Mahamed asked.

Mahamed said that the people who saw her son being taken were there at the time the police took him.

She said she received information that her son allegedly saw a serious crime being committed by a Florida police member some time ago.

“I am very distraught; I came to Florida two weeks ago to look for any lead as to where my son can be. I have spoken to the police in Roodepoort and even to officials at the Krugersdorp Prison, Roodepoort Magistrate’s Court, Johannesburg police and prison, and Craig is nowhere. It was not recorded on any system that he was arrested at any of the prisons or police stations. I called twice last week to speak to the Florida Station Commander, but he was not available, the receptionist asked for my son’s name as she said she’s going to check in the records for September if he was there in their cells, but she has not come back to me,” said Mahamed.

Mahamed last spoke to her son on August 30 at approximately 2:37pm and ever since then, all his friends have not seen him.

“I am very, and extremely distraught at this point in time, I want my son back or else there will be hell to pay,” said Mahamed.

The Record made contact with Florida Station Commander, Colonel Amos Tsotetsi who advised that Mahamed should come to the station to report her son as missing as there is no record of him in their books.

“I kindly advise the community member to come to the police station to report the missing person,” said Tsotetsi.