Exactly one month after the disappearance of his son, the father of missing German tourist Nick Frischke has expressed feelings of fear, trepidation and a sense of helplessness.
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The 22-year-old vanished after allegedly being robbed on a hiking trail in Cape Town.
Five suspects have been arrested after they were found in possession of items belonging to Frischke. However, to date, efforts to trace him have proven unsuccessful.
Taking to social media, André Hallwas shared his concerns, calling on the mayor’s office to do more to find his son.
“It’s been exactly a month since Nick last sent me a message,” he posted on Facebook.
“Fear, trepidation, full of emotion, full of anticipation of news, full of helplessness, not being able to do much about the powerlessness but above all 30 days of hope. The hope for an end, a good end for Nick.”
Speaking to TimesLive, Melanie Porter, who runs the Airbnb in Pinelands where Frischke was staying, believes the 22-year-old planned to take sunset photos from the Sentinel Peak above Hout Bay when he went missing.
She said he was an avid hiker who appeared to have “fallen in love” with Table Mountain. “It seemed like he had photographed it from almost every angle, and it seems like the trip up to the Sentinel area was to take photos of the sunset from different angles,” she said.
“I didn’t meet him directly, my daughter did. But I communicated with him almost every day and he was enjoying being in Cape Town,” she said, adding he was due to spend another week at the Airbnb.
Frischke was last seen on 15 February.
However, some of his belongings were later found among suspected stolen property, including a credit card, backpack and cellphone.
Five suspects were taken into custody and face charges of robbery with aggravated circumstances related to the possession of his belongings.
Ishaan Fisher, Jason Adonis, Melvin Geunantin, Petersen van Roy and Carlo Geunantin will be back in court on May 4.
“Every day he left his room, it was neatly made, and when they went in there to service the room it was clean,” said Porter. “His clothes were packed away. Whenever you spoke to him there was always sincerity, kindness and gentleness. He was clearly a nice guy.”
“I think he was very innocent, very trusting. The last thing he was worried about was being attacked on the mountain.”
Porter added that Frischke planned to go surfing in the week that he vanished and communicated “every single evening” with his mother.
“When he didn’t get in touch on the Wednesday, she was very concerned and got hold of me.”
“A lot of his things were new, Polaroid glasses and a little bag. I suspect he had bought himself a whole kit [for his trip]. I think it was a big deal for him to be out here.”
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Picture: Tom Frischke / Facebook