South African Press Association

Victim's condition deteriorating fast

CAPE TOWN — The condition of one of the survivors of the Sea Point salon massacre is deteriorating fast.

Groote Schuur spokesperson Philippa Johnson said the man, who was in his fifties, had been linked to a life support system in the intensive care unit since Monday, when he and three others were admitted to hospital with gunshot wounds to the head and with their throat slit.

She said: "His injuries are very serious. A gunshot wound to the head is usually serious and not easy to treat. He is in a bad state."

Two of the four men admitted to hospital have died.

One other survivor, a man in his 20s, is in stable condition in Groote Schuur.

Johnson said the two survivors were under police guard.

Six others died of gunshot wounds to the back of the head in Sizzlers gay massage parlour in Sea Point in the early hours of Monday.

Their hands were tied with packing tape and they had socks pushed into their mouths. Their throats had been slit "from ear to ear", nearly decapitating them.

Funeral

The owner of Sizzlers, Aubrey Eric Ottgar, will be buried in Kraaifontein on Thursday.

His brother, Tony, who flew to Cape Town on Monday night after being notified that his brother Aubrey Eric Ottgar (56) was one of the victims, said the service would be held at St Anthony's Catholic Church in Kraaifontein at 11:00. Aubrey had attended this church in the past.

Ottgar said the whole family had been traumatised by the killing. "It was a brutal murder seeing the way he was executed.

"All the people were shot in the back of the head. In the mortuary some were almost decapitated the way their throats had been slit," Ottgar said.

Protection racket

Ottgar believed a syndicate that wanted to enforce protection rackets and perhaps wanted to take control of the prostitution trade, was behind the massacre.

"I think the government turns a blind eye to prostitution. While it's not legal they do not actively do anything to stop it. Surely it would be better to legalise it and afford these people some protection," he said.

Ottgar said the family believed that either the employees at Sizzlers were involved in drugs, or alternatively, that the massacre had something to do with protection rackets.

"We do know that Aubrey was very vocal in his anti-drug stance. He was at the Sea Point police station on numerous occasions when he found drugs on the premises.

"The people behind these killings must be exposed," Ottgar said.

He said the family was close-knit and while they were not happy with Aubrey's line of work, there was never any rift in the family. "Blood is thicker than water."

"He allowed us to express our disagreement and often justified what he was doing."

'Knock-shop'

Travis Reade was another victim of Monday's execution-style killing.

Travis's father Len Reade, speaking from his home in Kempton Park in Gauteng, said he had known for about three years that his son, who worked under the name "Max", was a male prostitute and homosexual.

"We had numerous discussions about his lifestyle, but he would never admit to working at a knock-shop. I could never get the entire truth out of him," Reade sen told the paper.

He said he had last seen his son in September. "We had spoken on the phone a few times after that but it was very difficult to keep track of his movements."

Reade said Travis had been living and working in Cape Town for the past two years and had been "staying at the house in Graham Road".

Reade said his sister and brother-in-law, who lived in Cape Town, had identified Travis's body.

Meanwhile, police spokesperson Captain Etienne Terblanche said police suspected the attack could possibly be related to drugs.

Police were still wanting to question four white men seen leaving the crime scene in a white BMW in the early hours of Monday.

One of the suspects has a tattoo of a curled-up snake on his upper left arm, and the words "fast gun" tattooed on his right wrist. His has reddish hair and wears a goatee beard.