DAMIAN Clarke, whose wife Cornelia was laid to rest yesterday at Meadowrest Memorial Gardens in St Catherine, says he is now trying to find a new source of inspiration, motivation and love, which his best friend and wife had effortlessly provided.

Cornelia, who was killed in an accident on Highway 2000 on April 12, had left her home in Manchester to clear a container at the wharf in Kingston. She who would have turned 39 in September.

Clarke’s interview with the Jamaica Observer was periodically interrupted as he paused to let tears flow down his face as he mourned the loss of his wife

“There is a reason why they called Cornelia Montague-Clarke, ‘Sister Love’. When everyone else shunned me and set me aside and segregated from me, because they said I have a curse on me, she was the one who looked past everybody else. She saw the goodness in me and did not rely upon information she got from other people. To be honest with you, she was the only friend that I could rely on. We were the same thing and maybe that’s why we were so perfect for each other. Our personalities were exact. We are the type of people who stay by ourselves. We might be in the house for months and nobody knows we are in there. I don’t think it will be possible for me to really get over this. I won’t be able to get over this,” said Clarke.

“Anybody will tell you this about her. Sometimes you have people in society who put you in the small category. That was never her. She opened my mind to greater possibilities. There was so much hope and dreams that she allowed me to invoke within myself that I didn’t even know were possible. Now she is gone, it is hard for me. There are days when I don’t get up out of bed. Based on how I am feeling, it’s hard for me to interact with people anymore. My confidence can be affected and I have to find a way now to come outside of that so my confidence won’t be [crushed]. I have an opportunity now to believe in myself on my own, the way ‘Nicky’ used to believe in me.” Nicky was the alias for his wife.

He reiterated that his wife’s death could have been averted if the wharf had not been giving them the “runaround” to clear the container since January. In the container, he said, were furniture and other items for their home. Clarke said the container was subsequently released to him but claimed that numerous items were missing from the shipment.

Isheba Montague, Cornelia’s sister, reiterated recent calls by her father Calvin for Government to come down harder on careless driving. Police had initially stated that speeding was one of the main causes of the April 12 tragedy involving the minibus Cornelia was travelling in to Kingston.

“I want persons to really consider how they drive on the road. It’s not like if you drive bad on the road, is you alone going to die. Other persons going to die with you, so people have to really be careful out there on the road. Since my sister died, a lot of accidents mi hear happen after that so is like the people still nah learn.

“The police dem need fi be on the road even more. It was an innocent life that went down the drain with other persons that day. The bigger heads really need to put measures in place [to reduce careless driving],” the woman said.

The other four persons who met their demise in the accident were 45-year-old construction worker Dwight Geohagen of Decarteret Road, Mandeville, Manchester; 31-year-old Christopher Barrett, businessman of Sunset Avenue, Knockpatrick in Manchester; 20-year-old Janella Maitland of a Brettford Avenue address in St Andrew; and 43-year-old Lydia Brown of Simon District in Rock River, Clarendon.

The driver of the minibus, Dwayne Fowler, who sustained injuries, was subsequently arrested and charged with manslaughter.

Fowler was recently granted bail in the sum of $700,000 on condition that he reports to the May Pen Police between the hours of 6:00 am and 6:00 pm Monday to Friday.

It is alleged that shortly after 11:00 on the morning of April 12 as Fowler attempted to overtake a truck when a rear tyre blew out and he lost control of the vehicle, which slammed into a truck and landed on top of a median after flipping several times, causing passengers to fall from the vehicle.