Ziegfried Ekron and Marenet Jordaan
Die Burger

'Inquisitive' foreigners visited Sizzlers

CAPE TOWN — A young man who escaped the Sizzlers massacre because he was ill, says a group of foreigners who were "very inquisitive" visited the massage parlour two days before the attack.

Eight people died and two others were wounded, one of them critically, in the attack on the Sea Point gay parlour.

"I can see myself in the room, it is horrible," says Chris Barnard, 20.

Barnard, who started to work as "Dean" at Sizzlers two weeks ago, would have worked on Sunday night, but was not feeling well.

He was ill in bed at his Sea Point flat when he heard on the radio about the attack.

"I was so shocked that I started trembling."

Barnard believes people who did not like the owner of the salon were responsible for the attack.

He says the group of foreigners had all the workers line up at once. "That was very unusual."

Barnard, who moved to Cape Town from Johannesburg in November, said he would definitely quit working as a masseur.

"I will never be able to return to the house in Graham Road. It's just too much," Barnard said.