A recovering addict who radiated love for others and celebrated the happy occasion of each year of sobriety has been mourned by the community.

Keith Jermaine Darrell, widely known as Jermaine and by his nickname of “Juice”, lost his life not long before his 52nd birthday in a crash on Malabar Road in Sandys on September 29.

He died at the scene of a collision between his motorcycle and a car.

Mr Darrell had three children with his partner, Charnita. He was remembered as a skilled footballer with Devonshire Cougars and North Village who fought through setbacks in his recovery battle to come through on the other side.

A family tribute from his funeral service on Friday said that the message Mr Darrell shared with loved ones was “to never give up”.

“Every time he fell, he got back up and tried again. He showed that it doesn’t matter how many times you fall — it’s the getting up that counts.

“That determination made it possible for Jermaine to become the father, son, uncle, cousin, friend and life partner that Charnita knew he could be.”

The family said Mr Darrell’s early passion was football, when he “ate, slept, lived and breathed the game”.

He committed himself to his faith through the Radnor Road Christian Fellowship Church, where he and his partner were baptised.

The couple had three children: Stenzia, Zarai and Sanchez.

The Reverend Bryan Haigh, the priest in charge at St John’s Church in Pembroke, said Mr Darrell’s death had come as a painful shock after his years of promise coming through the church’s Eden Project, a programme dedicated to “bringing healing to any person who feels wounded in the process of living”.

Mr Haigh said: “The project exists to give vulnerable people a hand up in this world — to offer mentorship and training, coaching and spiritual input. Jermaine was part of it for a number of years.

“He was a very outgoing, fun guy who always had a smile despite some of the challenges he faced — a very jovial character who could engage meaningfully in conversation with young children all the way up to the senior adults in the congregation of the church.

“What came through at his funeral was how he had touched so many people’s hearts.”

Mr Haigh said that Mr Darrell had come out of the Eden Project as one of the programme’s “success stories”.

“He invited a number of us to celebrate when he was sober for five years. I think it’s a testament to the project at St John’s and other programmes.”

However, Mr Haigh added: “The carnage on the roads of Bermuda is contributing to a lot of our own sadness at the moment.

“As a priest who buries a number of road traffic victims, it’s becoming a heavy burden. There are a lot of people in our community who are full of sadness.”

Vaughn “Rocky” Trott, a close friend, recalled Mr Darrell’s excitement for his upcoming six-year mark of sobriety.

Mr Trott said: “He was always talking about it. He could not believe that he had made it without using. He had been in and out of treatment before and he was just about to take off.”

He described Mr Darrell as charismatic, buzzing with energy and “saturated with love”.

• Keith Jermaine Darrell, an inspiration in the island’s recovery community, was born on October 18, 1973. He died on September 29, aged 51

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