The pain of losing a second child in just under two years was evident in Charmaine Riley-Clarke’s voice.

But amid her grief, Riley-Clarke’s faith in God remains strong.

“I don’t know what the devil want with my children them, but in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, I am just asking God to handle it because I can’t. So I am resting everything in God’s hands,” declared the mother of 20-year-old Reggae Girl Tarania “Plum Plum” Clarke who was stabbed to death by a friend two nights ago in Half-Way-Tree, St Andrew.

Clarke, who was also captain and ace defender of Excelsior High School and Waterhouse girls’ football teams, was killed during a dispute with another female on Thursday.

The Half-Way-Tree police report that about 8:50 pm, both women had a dispute over a cellular phone. During the altercation, a knife was used to stab Clarke. She was taken to hospital where she was pronounced dead.

The accused has been taken into custody by the police.

Yesterday, when the Jamaica Observer visited the rugged Back Bush community in Mountain View, where Clarke lived, the community was shrouded in a pall of gloom, as family members and well-wishers surrounded the grieving mother, who had lost her son to the gun less than two years ago and her mother recently.

“Is not too long ago they killed her brother just right up there so. Him go buy food and I just heard that man drove up and shoot him, and now this,” Riley-Clarke said, shaking her head.

“It is tough for the whole community; everybody feel it. If that little girl has any enemy, we don’t know about it. Not even the girl that stabbed her I think is her enemy. I feel the devil just got a hold of that girl that did the stabbing,” she added.

As she sat in a daze, Riley-Clarke, the mother of eight recollected her last conversation with Clarke before the footballer left home.

“She came in with a food and she say ‘Mommy, here’ just as I came in, because I went on the road to take care of business for her next sister that just left for a small island. After she gave me the food, I asked her where she was going and she said ‘Mommy, mi soon come back’ and she borrow $500 from her niece and then I got the news,” Riley-Clarke shared as she fought back tears.

Riley-Clarke remembered her daughter as a jovial and understanding individual who got along well with everyone with whom she came into contact.

She said her daughter was a people person who avoided quarrels and was always ready to lend a helping hand where needed.

“She is so loving, so jovial and nice. I don’t know why that girl would do something like that and I just hope she give herself to God,” Riley-Clarke noted.

“I raised them on nothing at all. If I cook one pound of flour, she satisfy and go to her bed with it, or if I tell her I don’t have any money to cook, she would just go in the bed go curl up on her phone.

“I don’t beat her two time from she born because she is so kind and humble. So I don’t know, I am just asking God to give me the strength to go through,” she lamented.

Clarke, who was one of the few players to represent Jamaica at all levels — Under-15, Under-17, Under-20 and the senior Reggae Girlz team — possessed immense potential that could have seen her achieve a successful professional football career at the highest level.

Riley-Clarke believes the outstanding utility player, who promised much, has been robbed of that opportunity, as she was preparing to attend university in the United States in January with the expectation of propelling her football ambitions further.

“From she was a baby she used to stuff box and play, so I saw it in her long time that she could have gone on to be a great player. From she born until now, she is just who she is, she don’t pretend. So I don’t know why the devil robbed my daughter’s life, but I just leave it in the hands of God,” Riley-Clarke said then bowed her head.

Shavanai Wilson was also in disbelief about the death of her aunt, who was a tower of strength for her after she became pregnant at an early age.

“Plum Plum was my favourite auntie and the closest one to me in my family. She always tell me that when she go overseas and make it big she was going to help me take care of my baby and take the family out of Mountain View. But that won’t happen now,” Wilson said.

“I still can’t accept the fact that my auntie gone and I don’t know how I’m going to deal with the fact that I won’t see her again to talk to her and play bingo with her and all that,” a teary-eyed Wilson said.

Excelsior High School Principal Deanroy Bromfield was also saddened by the news, as he reflected on Clarke’s time at the school from which she graduated in June.

“She was such a talented young lady. I remember us having some conversations and even quarrels over school work and her preparedness for school and she promised me that things would be better. And she did better and was preparing to go to school overseas. So we are really disheartened, in fact it hasn’t really sunk in as yet,” a sombre-looking Bromfield said, as he stood under a tree on the school compound.

“Up to this week I saw her and I started to call her coach because she’s the one who has been doing all the interviews for Waterhouse. And I say, ‘obviously you are Waterhouse’s coach’. So it is really, really sad and we will miss her.”