Malaysia appeal for Stephen
THE family of a young Irishman missing in Malaysia have appealed for the public’s help in tracking him down.
Stephen Warde, from Kinvara, Co. Galway, was last in contact with his family on January 1 from Kuala Lumpur, but has not been seen or heard from since.
The family have travelled to the Malaysian capital to help the search.
The last confirmed sighting of the 31-year-old was on December 29 as he left his Airbnb wearing a blue or purple T-shirt, khaki shorts and black runners.
Mr Warde, who works in e-commerce, has been travelling the world for the past few years and had arrived in Malaysia in mid-November.
In a Facebook post, his mother Mary Morrissey appealed to people living in Malaysia to help her find her missing son.
And the missing man’s brother Donal said that although he was one of seven children, Mr Warde was always in contact with his family via WhatsApp. He told RTÉ’s The Ryan Tubridy Show: ‘He’s very good to his family. Every time he goes to a different city, he will send presents to his nieces and nephews.’
He said the family became concerned after he failed to get in contact after asking for money.
‘He was saying he was a bit low on cash and if somebody could send him cash,’ he said.
Donal said that his mother sent him around €150 but that he never went to collect the money, and left personal items, including his laptop, in his accommodation. The family have since filed reports with gardaí here and police in Malaysia, as well as with Interpol, and have made appeals through local media in Kuala Lumpur.
Donal said the family wanted to see the police do more, but that they had limited resources to search for his brother. ‘They do in fairness not have a lot of leads at the moment – that’s the puzzling thing about the case, is we don’t have anything,’ he said.
The family have offered a reward of 5,000 Malaysian dollars (€4,400) for information – the equivalent of a year’s salary in the area.
By last night, a GoFundMe page set up by friends and relatives to support the family’s search had reached almost €15,000 of its €25,000 goal.