Sizzlers massacre

2003 violence against the queer community in Cape Town, South Africa

Sizzlers massacre

Part of the history of Cape Town

Sea Point

Sea Point (South Africa)

Location| 7 Graham Street, Sea Point, Cape Town[1][2]
Coordinates| 33°54′51″S 18°23′23″E﻿ / ﻿33.9141°S 18.3898°E﻿ / -33.9141; 18.3898
Date| 20 January 2003
Weapons| Guns, knives
Deaths| 9
Injured| 1
Victims| Warren Visser
Aubrey Otgaar
Sergio de Castro
Stephanus Fouche
Johan Meyer
Gregory Berghau
Travis Reade
Timothy Boyd
Marius Meyer[1]

Perpetrators| Adam Roy Woest
Trevor Basil Theys[1][3]

The Sizzlers massacre took place in Sea Point, Cape Town on 20 January 2003. Nine people were murdered and one person was severely injured in a hate crime against the queer community.[4][5]

The victims were shot and killed at a gay massage parlour named Sizzlers at 7 Graham Road. Adam Roy Woest and Trevor Basil Theys were convicted for the crime.[1][3] Woest stated that the initial reason for targeting the massage parlour was to rob it and steal money that Woest and Theys believed was held onsite.[3] Judge Nathan Erasmus described it as the "worst massacre that Cape Town and the country has ever seen."[4]

Woest and Theys were both found guilty of 9 counts of murder and one count of attempted murder, and sentenced to life in prison.[6]

## See also

[edit]

* List of massacres in South Africa

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b c d "Petition against Sizzlers' killer's release on parole reaches close to 7000". www.iol.co.za. Retrieved 17 February 2022.
2. ^ "Gay Massacre | Journeyman Pictures". www.journeyman.tv. Retrieved 17 February 2022.
3. ^ a b c "Theys's Sizzlers confession". News24. Retrieved 17 February 2022.
4. ^ a b Barnes, Clayton (19 January 2008). "Sizzlers massacre remains a mystery". Independent Online. Retrieved 7 June 2019.
5. ^ "2003: Nigel Pierce remembers the Sizzlers massacre in Sea Point". CapeTalk. Retrieved 17 February 2022.
6. ^ Staff Reporter (16 March 2004). "Sizzlers killers get life". The Mail & Guardian. Retrieved 23 October 2023.