Mystery deepens as family of missing man pleads for police action

Genevieve Serra|Published

Quinton Bradley Plaatjies.

Image: Supplied

Five years after a 54-year-old employee of the Department of Correctional Services took early retirement and received a payout worth millions, only to never be seen again, his sisters have said the case has gone cold despite CCTV footage obtained of a woman and man who used his bank card and his vehicle.

The family revealed that R100 000 had vanished from their brother, Quinton Bradley Plaatjies's bank account.

In 2021, a year after his disappearance, the family made a public appeal for help via the Cape’s Cold Cases, Weekend Argus.

Plaatjies went on early retirement in 2019, after being employed at the Department of Correctional Services in Somerset East, where he worked for over 35 years.

Plaatjies received a payout of close to R4 million left his home prior to October 2020 to visit relatives in Nysschen Street in Bethelsdorp in Gqeberha, and was never seen again.

His brand new Ford Ecosport, which he paid cash for, was found abandoned on November 7, 2020, outside Beer Shack in Beach Road, Gqeberha.

Items such as his false teeth were also left behind and his car was handed over as part of evidence.

The Hawks was also roped in to assist with the investigation.

Plaatjes’s sister, Georgina Sammy, said they were appealing for police to utilise the video footage they obtained shortly after his disappearance, which showed a woman dressed in hijab and a man, who had masks covering their faces, using his bank card at an ATM where R100 000 was withdrawn.

The transaction took place between October and November 2020 near Bethelsdorp in Gqeberha.

Plaatjes’s bank account was also frozen.

“We as the sisters of Quinton, we strongly feel let down by the police,” Sammy said.

“In the past three years we have heard nothing about the case.

“The lady in the footage was seen withdrawing the R100 000 out of the bank card, we do not know if she was interviewed.

“We had a tip-off that she was in Uitenhage, named Noomfie.

“The Hawks detective, I questioned him whether she was found and questioned and that she held the key to the mystery of my brother.

“Where did she get the cards from my brother?

“What happened with the interrogation?

“We were told to stay quiet.”

Sammy added that their brother’s bank account remained frozen and that vehicle was still in the possession of the police.

“They said they are on the case and that we must leave the case in their capable hands.

“What happened to my brother’s car and when can it be released?

“What about the money in his  account which was frozen?

“They said the leads ended in Uitenhage.

“There is footage of a man and woman, why can’t it go viral and if someone recognises her?

“What about the DNA found on the steering wheel of his car?"

Chaz Thomas from Track n Trace Missing Persons Unit, who has been assisting the family for the past five years, said they understood the family’s frustrations.

“DNA tests were also taken from the sisters and nothing came from that after five years,” she said.

“There have been no significant leads and he cannot just have vanished off the face of the earth.

“We hope that someone somewhere sees him and comes forward.”

Previously, Brigadier Thandi Mbambo of the Hawks said they had assisted with information with the case while the Eastern Cape police added that the case was at a sensitive stage and confirmed that the vehicle had been found abandoned.

New queries were sent to the Hawks and Eastern Cape police and awaits feedback.

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Cape Argus