5 YEARS SINCE THE SIZZLERS MASSACRE

Sunday was the fifth anniversary of the headline-grabbing massacre of nine men in a massage parlour in Cape Town.

The bloody killings took place at Sizzlers, a Sea Point gay massage parlour on January 20, 2003, and questions still remain about the motives behind the attack.

The owner Aubrey Otgaar, client Gregory Berghaus and masseurs Quinton Taylor, Sergio de Castro, Marius Meyer, Travis Reade, Timothy Boyd, Stephanus Fouche, Johan Meyer and Robert Visser were all tied up, had their throats slit and were then were shot in the head.

Astonishingly, despite his wounds Quinton Taylor survived the attack and was able to run to a nearby petrol station for help. He made a full recovery and went on to testify at the trial.

Adam Woest and Trevor Theys were convicted of the murders and are currently serving life sentences in prison. They claimed in their police statements that robbery was the motive behind their actions, but many believe that this was a cover-up. Neither Woest nor Theys testified in court.

Various theories have been put forward over the years including suggestions that a mysterious unidentified third attacker was involved and that a competitor, who remains free, was behind the massacre. Others believe that the killings were related to illegal drug dealing or were even anti-gay hate crimes.

At the time, the judge in the court case described the Sizzlers killings as the “worst massacre that Cape Town and the country have ever seen.”