It’s claimed Ian Henry was at a casino while his frantic family and police searched for him, write Jeff Wicks and Nabeelah Shaikh.
|||Durban - The Durban man who went missing last week allegedly spent his time gambling at the Suncoast Casino while a provincial search was mounted for him.
Ian Henry, the manager of the Hillcrest branch of Bluff Meat Supply, failed to arrive at a meeting on Monday last week and was found four days later in the parking lot of Suncoast Casino, severely dehydrated.
Henry’s distraught wife, Trisha, denied the gambling allegations. She told the Sunday Tribune that the incident has been a double blow for the family.
“When he went to hospital after he was found dehydrated last week, a routine check-up was conducted and it was discovered that he has an aneurysm. We are devastated. We fear for his health now,” said the wife.
She said her husband was not a gambler and that he was just stressed out. So he drove around Durban.
“He spent the nights sleeping in his car and he usually likes to drive around whenever he is stressed. Anybody who knows Ian will justify that. My husband is not a gambler. He did not even have any cash or cards on him to begin with. I control the finances,” she said.
Business partner and friend of Henry, Calven Robinson, said Henry was no gambler. He said that having known him for many years, they are not just business colleagues but also good friends.
“Ian is not a gambler. I know him well enough. He is very ill in hospital right now and everybody is concerned about his health,” he said.
But a source within Suncoast Casino, who would not be named as he is not authorised to speak to the press, confirmed that Henry had spent his missing days at the Prive, the casino’s high roller suite.
The exclusive gambling room is reserved for high-end and VIP clients and offers a unique gambling experience.
The source, with an intimate knowledge of the goings on within the exclusive area, said that Henry had arrived at the casino on the day of his disappearance.
“He is a regular at the casino so we see him often. On the day he first came here I think that he lost a lot of money because he just never left. This is not something that is out of the ordinary for the VIP area.
“Some clients lose millions in a night. This is not 50c slot machines, we are talking hundreds of thousands of rand on a single game,” the source said.
Another source confirmed that Henry had been gambling in the Prive while a province-wide search for him wore on.
As the search went on for him last week, police liaised with other police stations as well as members of the community to trace his whereabouts, said police spokesman Captain Thulani Zwane.
“SAPS waste manpower and state resources which could be used effectively to investigate genuine cases that really need the attention. We advise people to please inform their friends or relatives about their whereabouts to prevent such incidents in future,” Zwane said.
jeff.wicks@inl.co.za, nabeelah.shaikh@inl.co.za
Sunday Tribune