The friends and family of Pieter Schutte, son of boxing legend Mike Schutte, are mourning his death after he took his own life last week.
According to Beeld, Pieter Schutte died at the age of 40 after he shot himself with a hunting rifle in the Seodin cemetery in Kuruman, in the Northern Cape, at about 3pm on Thursday.
The suicide came just days before Pieter and his family were set to move to Pretoria, and he alerted his wife, Carin, to his plans via a phone call from the cemetery.
“We discussed our plans throughout the duration of the morning,” she told the publication.
“He was quite emotional, but I spoke to him nicely and he calmed down.
“He then told me that he was going into town to pick up some boxes, because we wanted to pack our things for our move to Pretoria.”
Carin’s husband then phoned her a few hours later, telling her that he was at the cemetery, that he was going to shoot himself, and that she should head over there.
“He was driving our bakkie,” she continued.
“I phoned someone to come pick me up and I also phoned our pastor. When I arrived at the cemetery, I saw him lying next to the bakkie.
“The pastor was already there. I ran towards him, but the pastor stopped me and held me.”
Carin and her two children, ten-year-old Carla and four-year-old Michael, are still set to brave their move to Pretoria today, the day after Pieter’s scheduled memorial service at 6pm on Tuesday.
Teamtalk