On 20 January 2003, 10 gay men were brutally attacked at Sizzlers, a massage parlour in Sea Point. In a massacre of savage violence, nine of the men lost their lives. Quinton Taylor managed to drag his badly wounded body to a nearby petrol station. As the sole survivor, he held the key to identifying the perpetrators. Adam Woest and Trevor Theys were subsequently arrested and convicted for what was one of the worst mass murders in South Africa.

What was the motive behind such savagery? Was it a twisted hate crime against its homosexual victims? Some believed it had its roots in organised crime and the sex trade turf wars in Cape Town. The offenders claimed it was a robbery gone wrong. In April 2004, the killers were sentenced to multiple life sentences. Now Adam Woest, the sole surviving killer, is up for parole. For Taylor and those who lived the last two decades without their loved ones, this is a severe travesty of justice that will not happen without a fight.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Nicole Engelbrecht is a Cape-Town based true crime writer. She hosts South Africa’s most popular true crime podcast, True Crime South Africa, as well as the official companion podcast to the Showmax doccie, Devilsdorp. She's ghostwritten popular international true crime titles and has produced extensive content on the Krugersdorp Cult Murders.

'Sizzlers: The hate crime that tore Sea Point apart' is published by Melinda Ferguson Books, an imprint of NB Publishers