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AAM Tawanang tried to coax Opaia Beia Karutake, her 15-year-old son, to go home on Tuesday afternoon. The Central College Lautoka fourth former politely refused.
She returned home alone and that would be the last time she would see him alive.
On Wednesday morning, she received word that Opaia had passed away, the victim of a tragic car accident.
"I went and begged him to come home on Tuesday afternoon but he kept saying 'later mum later'. Maybe if I had tried harder, he would still be here," she tearfully said.
Her husband, Tonga Karutake, said Opaia was a "joyful but mischievous boy".
"He loved hanging around his friends all the time, especially with Tabuia, the driver who was also killed in the accident. "If we asked him to stay home and do some work around the house, as soon as his friends would call he would just run off. He was a typical teenager, his friends and having fun came first before everything else but I still loved him because he was my son," he said.
Tonga Karutake junior, Opaia's elder sibling, said his brother was a fun-loving type of person, who had a keen interest in music.
"He was really into music in a big way. He could play guitar, ukulele and a little bit of keyboard," he said.
The Karutake family is awaiting police investigations into the accident to be completed before announcing funeral details.
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