The last photos of Shaun Kruger (left) where he celebrated the Springboks’ win with his brother Charl, sister-in-law Yolanda and Ronel van Aswegen. Shortly after this picture was taken, he took his own life. Image: Facebook
The Vaal triangle’s legal community was shocked late last month after a well-known lawyer committed suicide just hours after celebrating the Springboks’ Japan rugby world cup win.
The 40-year-old Shaun Kruger, director of Van Wyk & Ferreira Administrators and owner of Shaun Kruger Lawyers in Vanderbijlpark, watched the rugby game at his brother Charl’s house and was apparently in good spirits. A few hours later he returned home, where he allegedly locked his bedroom door and shot himself, Charl told Vaal Weekblad.
Photos of a beaming Shaun were shared on social media just hours before his death, where he could be seen laughing and having a good time.
“Ah but this is nice!” he wrote on Facebook when the Springboks won.
Charl, also a lawyer, recalled how he and Shaun spent a lovely afternoon together, and that Shaun went home just after 6pm.
“Shortly afterwards, Shaun’s best friend Ronel van Aswegen, a chief prosecutor at the Vanderbijlpark Magistrate’s Court who was also celebrating with us, called my wife Yolanda to say that she heard a gunshot at Shaun’s house, and that we should come there. She lives near him.
“We immediately went into the house. I didn’t even put my sandals on. When we got there, the house was open but his bedroom door was locked. I broke down the door and found him in the room.”
Charl says there was no suicide note.
“There are many questions. We will never get all the answers. Maybe it was a split-second decision. Maybe it was the ideal day; the Springboks won. We had a good time together,” Charl said.
Charl says his brother was well liked by everyone and that he had few enemies.
“When he spoke to you, you were prioritised in that moment. He had a way of making everyone feel special.”
Charl recalls how his brother took food for his elderly parents every Sunday at midday, and then cleaned their swimming pool. He described Shaun as an excellent lawyer.
“I think it’s a case of the one who laughs the hardest is the one who often suffers the most. My brother always laughed. He carried 10 million people’s problems on his shoulders and it was never too much for him. Hy gave too much and, in the end, he kept too little for himself.”
Shaun attended Hoërskool Transvalia, and obtained his law degree at North-West University’s Potchefstroom campus.
He is survived by his parents, 75-year-old Hennie and 72-year-old Rennie Kruger, his brother Charl and his pet Yorkshire Terrier Nikita, who Charl has since adopted.
This article was translated from Afrikaans by Nica Schreuder
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