PORT MARIA, St Mary — Paulette Walker had been looking forward to celebrating her sixth wedding anniversary with her husband Johnny on December 22. Now she is planning his funeral. The 54-year-old man was among three people who died in a motor vehicle crash as he headed home from his 90-year-old mother’s wake.

Paulette is heartbroken that her life partner and friend of almost two decades was tragically taken from her.

“For the 18 years I have known my husband, I haven’t had a bad moment. Not that we didn’t have our ups and downs but nothing to dwell on. He’s always jovial, happy. As you see Johnny you like him,” she reminisced with a smile during an interview with the
Jamaica Observer.

She kept her eyes fixed on her cellular phone as she scrolled through pictures of them in happy times.

The fatal crash took place on Whitehall main road in St Mary early Sunday morning. Twenty-year-old Paul Mullings, from Highgate and 22-year-old Davier Anderson from Frazerwood also lost their lives. Reports are that Johnny Walker was driving his grey Honda Stream at the time of the incident. His brother, who was in Jamaica for their mother’s funeral, two of Walker’s co-workers from a fast food restaurant and another passenger were in the car. Walker’s brother received serious injuries and was admitted to hospital where he remains in stable condition. The other passenger was treated and released.

Paulette Walker said her husband was well known in their community and across the parish of St Mary as he was once a driver for a popular hardware store. He started a new job a year ago as a driver for the fast food franchise.

“I am in the town of Highgate and people are just coming up to me about him. Everyone has something remarkable to say about him. If my husband has any enemies, I don’t know of [them]. Persons of all walks of life came to tell me about him. It was overwhelming. I had to rush out of there,” she said.

She fought back tears as she recounted her last moments with the love of her life.

“It was his mother’s wake in Albion Mountain. I left early as I wasn’t feeling well and I didn’t want to take him from there,” she explained.

Moments after she got to her house in Dean Pen, her phone rang. It was her sister-in-law. Paulette thought she was calling to scold her for leaving the wake early and without saying goodbye. She was shocked when her husband’s sister broke the news to her.

“She asked me where I was and I told her I was at home. She then told me that Johnny was involved in an accident and three of them died. Something inside of me died, I prayed that he wasn’t dead. I screamed, praying it was not true,” said Paulette.

Her son took her to the crash site and any sliver of hope that remained vanished.

“I couldn’t believe my Johnny was gone,” she moaned. “I have heard in the public domain that my husband was drunk and he had fallen asleep and he was the one that caused the accident. Nothing like that, he was on the right side of the road and he was wearing his seatbelt.”

The Port Maria police are investigating.

— Ingrid Henry