‘Never met a tougher man’: Old friend reveals moment Bogie victim confronted death

An old friend says Bogie mass shooting victim Mervyn Schwarz was the toughest man he ever met after the pair were involved in an incident where he had to ‘sew himself up or die’.

Peter Peirano first met Mervyn Schwarz, one of the victims of the Bogie shootings, 40 years ago and said emphatically there was no one tougher than his old friend.

“I’ve never met a tougher man than Merv,” he said, telling a story from 30 years ago to prove his point.

By Mr Peirano’s account, Mr Schwarz had travelled to a cattle property near Tambo and “came off a motorbike” in the “middle of nowhere”.

“He gashed himself severely and he sewed himself up,” Mr Peirano said.

“Not many people can do that.

“He must have had a first aid kit or something, but without any anaesthetic or nothing, he sewed himself up.

“I would have passed out.”

Long-time Rockhampton insurance broker Peter Peirano. Picture: Allan Reinikka

Mr Peirano said Mr Schwarz confronted death at that moment.

“He would have bled out,” he said.

“If he didn’t sew himself up, he would have bled out.

“Absolutely, it was sew himself up or die.”

Mr Peirano, an insurance broker in Rockhampton, met the Schwarz family when they ran a petrol station in the Beef Capital many moons ago at the intersection of Richardson and Yaamba roads.

“It was just an old country servo with hay and rural produce,” he said.

“All of the Schwarz’s were hard workers.”

“They were country people.

“Rocky’s a country town like Mackay, everybody knows pretty well everybody.

“And they were a famous family, famous for hard work and dedication.”

A BP Service station now stands in the place of the old Schwarz family business.

Aside from the Bogie property purchased with his wife and her son about 12 months ago, real estate data shows Mr Schwarz owned and ran numerous properties across Queensland over the years, the first being a property called ‘Texas’ in the Jericho region, which he sold in 2001.

He also had land in Gilberton, Aramac, The Gums in the Western Downs, and Mount Abundance and Jackson North in the Maranoa region over the years.

Mr Peirano said Mr Schwarz built up a “strong cattle empire” on the back of hard work.

Bogie shooting victims Maree and Mervyn Schwarz. Picture: Supplied

“He was not a man of malice,” he said.

“He was just a tremendously hard worker.”

The mass shooting took the lives of Mervyn, 71, and his wife Maree, 59, Schwarz and Maree’s son Graham Tighe, 35.

Maree’s other son Ross Tighe, who lives in Rockhampton, suffered a gunshot wound to the stomach and miraculously survived.

Darryl Young, the 59-year-old neighbour of the Schwarz’s, has been charged with the alleged murders.

Police will allege the shootings were committed at the front gate of Mr Young’s Shannonvale Rd property over an ongoing border dispute.

The case of Mr Young, who is represented by Townsville solicitor Phil Rennick of Rennick Lawyers, has been adjourned to Bowen Magistrates Court later this year.

Mr Peirano said the killings were a tragedy and he thought of Mr Schwarz “at night-time”.

“You think of his face and think, such a waste, you know?” he said.

“You don’t come back, do you?”