Exact circumstances of deadly fall unknown
A morning walk turned into tragedy when Marie Brisley-Clarvis (54) fell roughly 50m to her death in Mossel Bay.
The Northmead Extension Four resident and her fiance, James Thompson (56) flew to George on October 17.
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From there, the pair drove to Mossel Bay, where they were due to holiday for a week at the Pinnacle Point Beach and Golf Resort.
After the couple had a tiring walk on the estate on Tuesday, Thompson decided to stay home while Brisley-Clarvis went for a walk on October 18.
After roughly three hours, Thompson was worried that his fiancée had not returned.
He drove around the estate and looked for his partner in the area around the St Blaize Trail.
“I asked the guard if he had seen Marie – I described her, but he said he hadn’t,” Thompson told the City Times on Sunday.
“On the trail I saw tourists and asked them, but they said ‘no’.”
He then went to the golf club and nearby casino, an area where he “was sure” he’d find his partner.
After alerting Brisley-Clarvis’s family of her disappearance, he searched the area with a torch for over three hours without success.
“I shouted her name, but she was already dead by then, unbeknown to me,” Thompson added.
The next afternoon, at about 12.30pm a rescue crew member found the body lying on rocks, near the water’s edge.
Thompson said he does not know exactly what happened to his fiancée.
“She was a very careful person,” he said.
“She had a backpack and it was windy, so I don’t know if it blew her over [the edge].”
Thompson said the area of the trail where he believes she fell, is close to a cliff and the rocks are brittle.
The Northmead resident said they were hoping to get married in the near future and retire in three years’ time.
Brisley-Clarvis was a director in the strategy division of the Department of Water Affairs.
Neither of them had children.
“She was incredible, the nicest person I have ever met,” Thompson said of his partner.
A memorial service is due to be held at NG Kempton Kruin on Fiskaal Street, Glen Marais on Wednesday at 10am.
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