Missing Irishman located in South Africa after online dating scam, mugging

The family of Stanley Currie is now crowdfunding to bring the Irishman home

Stanley Currie, who was reported as missing in South Africa by his family, has been located. His family in Ireland are now crowdfunding to bring him home to Tyrone.

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On Monday evening, Stanley’s son Mark Currie shared to Facebook that his father had been found and was receiving medical treatment in South Africa:

Stanley Currie’s family had raised the alarm after they hadn’t heard from their father for a few days. Currie had traveled to Johannesburg, South Africa on a one-way ticket to reportedly meet with a person he had been chatting with online for two years.

When he was finally located, Currie was found to be disoriented and robbed of his passport and cash.

Chief Executive of the South Africa Community Crime Group Steven King explained to the Irish Mirror how they tracked down the missing Irishman. “We actually got a tip-off from a member of a community close to the airport in Johannesburg called Edenvale.”

“They said they had come across him as he was looking for the place he was supposed to be staying. He was a little hurt by the sun and disorientated but he is OK and he spoke to his family over the phone earlier today and they were overwhelmed to know he was OK.”

“As far as we are aware he’s been here in South Africa since December 30th. He’s been staying here since.”

“I’d like to thank all the members of the public in South Africa that got in touch with us about this case because we did receive a lot of calls from people who thought they saw someone like him and it helped narrow down the area.”

“We had been working with the police and several other groups and then we got this call. I suppose you could call it the luck of the Irish.”

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The family has since organized an online crowdfunding site to help bring Stanley back home to Co Tyrone and has already surpassed their goal.

On the fundraising site, the family wrote: “Get Stanley Currie home from South Africa after he was mugged of all his belongings, passport and money.”

“We need to put Stanley up in a hotel until his emergency passport can be got and we can get him home as soon as possible.”

“He has been walking the streets of South Africa for a week with no food or water and is currently receiving medical care. Please, we would really appreciate any help at all. Thank you for all the support so far.”