‘Part of mi feel dead’ - Forty-year marriage broken by fatal crash

Keith Osbourne's four-decade union with his wife Gwendolyn 'Miss Sissy' Osbourne was shattered to pieces last Friday when she was killed after being hit by a vehicle as she crossed the road in Cottage Pen, St Thomas.

The pain was evident on the face of the 85-year-old as he spoke with members of THE STAR team yesterday. His eyes were watery and his voice trembled before stating that his heart had been ripped apart.

"Mi a try to stay strong, eno, but every time mi think about mi wife, bad feelings take mi. Mi still in a shock and mi can't believe she gone just like that. Mi wife was a good March woman. Part of mi feel dead," he said.

Osbourne said Gwendolyn had left their home on Friday to collect her voter's identification card in Morant Bay when tragedy struck. He said minutes after she left the house, he heard a banging on his gate, as someone came to be the bearer of life-altering news.

"When she a leave, she tell mi to put on the pot until she come back. Little after mi hear somebody come call mi say she get knock down and same time think say she dead. It was like mi feel it and mi body feel different," he said.

A surveillance video showed the 75-year-old woman looking left and right before attempting to cross the road. Seconds later, she was hit by a vehicle which threw her a short distance away. She was pronounced dead shortly after. It is unclear whether the driver of the vehicle has been charged. Osbourne emphasised that a part of him died along with his wife.

"Believe me I am not telling any lies, I cannot see so good and I am weak but if I was out there, I don't know how it end. The driver took away the person who mi love and who help mi, so when she dead, it kill mi. Suh might as well mi dead and done," Osbourne said.

The senior citizen said he and his wife did not share any children together but she was the mother of four from a previous relationship. He told THE STAR that when he laid eyes on her more than 40 years ago, he instantly knew that he would be taking her to the aisle.

"My wife was very sympathetic and she miserable too, eno, but she have a heart of gold. But after yuh see she get miserable and cool down, anything happen to you she will be there for you. She was very kind and would give away her last. She was a very hard-working woman," he said.

"When mi sick, mi wife never leave mi. She up and down with mi all the time and there were times when she would have the last and give mi. I remember a time when I was so sick and next door to death and she never leave my side at all. She was the best part of mi, she never leave mi out," Osbourne added.

As of August 8, 236 persons have been killed in 205 fatal crashes, according to the Island Traffic Authority. Pedestrians account for 42 of the the fatalities, or 18 per cent.