Cape Town - A popular drag queen, affectionately known as Tannie, died after their throat was slit.
Alfredo April, 40, was lured from his Malmesbury home in the early hours of Thursday morning when he received a message from someone pretending to be his friend.
His sobbing mother, Sophia, said she last saw him at 1am and was curious that he was fully dressed.
“He looked like he was about to go out and I asked him where he was going. He said his friend sent a text and asked for bus fare. I told him I didn’t like that he was leaving home in the middle of the night. I just had a bad feeling about the whole situation,” she explained.
“He left at 1.07am and I couldn’t go back to bed. I went to stand by the gate until 1.45am.”
It was cold, so she returned to the house. She said minutes later a man came to call her.
“He said my son had been stabbed and he was calling for me,” the emotional mother recalled.
“My younger son went with him to check what was going on. I went a bit later.
“My son died on a stoep of a house where he went for help.” Sophia said April’s throat was slit.
“He told the owner of the house that they did that to him but never said who and the number of suspects.
“This seemed like it was planned, because when I got to the scene I asked for his phone and it was with him. He was also wearing expensive clothes which were still on him,” she said.
“I went to the messages and found out that it wasn’t his friend who sent the texts but someone pretending to be him.
“The suspect only took the bus fare and left everything else. I find that very strange. This was a hit.
“I can’t say it was a homophobic attack because everyone knew him. They knew he was gay and that he was a drag queen, a netball coach who owned a salon. He was quite popular, maybe he was killed because of jealousy.”
Police spokesperson FC van Wyk said Malmesbury police attended to a complaint in the early hours of Thursday.
“Upon arrival in Kanarie Street in Wesbank at around 2.20am, they found the body of a man who sustained a stab wound to his neck.
“The victim was declared deceased on the scene by the medical personnel. The motive for the attack is yet to be established. This office can confirm that a 28-year-old man was arrested and detained. Malmesbury police are investigating a murder case.”