Mansion in ruins - ‘Bulbie’s lavish hideout goes from great house to ghost house

Donovan 'Bulbie' Bennett's mansion, once a symbol of opulence and secrecy, now lies abandoned, swallowed by the thick vegetation of the quiet community of Tanaky, near Rock River in Clarendon.

What was once a dream hideaway has become a decaying relic, its beauty fading into the wilderness. The driveway, marked by weathered concrete poles, is blocked by piles of pimento wood. Aside from the chirping of birds and crickets, there is a haunting stillness.

Located a brisk 10-minute walk from the main road, the seven-bedrom mansion is a shadow of its former grandeur. The entrance is nearly hidden by a tree, with swarms of wasp nests clinging to the roof. Cracks mar both the inside and outside of the structure, while wildflowers have overtaken the flooring, spreading across the upper and lower levels.

Bags of hardened cement and broken tiles lay scattered on a staircase leading to the second-floor balcony. The base for the jacuzzi tub near the master bedroom has become worn, perhaps due to the combination of time and vandals, while doors and windows have vanished from the house that once gleamed with fresh white paint.

On October 30, 2005, as the rain poured, the quiet community was rattled by the sound of multiple explosions and the sight of dozens of police and soldiers swarming the unfinished two-storey dwelling. 'Bulbie', who was at the time the leader of the notorious Spanish Town-based Klansman Gang, was home at his dream hideaway when the lawmen showed up. Before then, the residents of the farming community knew nothing about this mild-mannered stranger who moved there and provided job opportunities to build his mansion.

Bennett, who the security forces said was one of the country's most wanted men, was shot and killed during a reported gun battle. With his death came an end to an intriguing chapter in Tanaky's history. Police investigations later revealed that he had amassed an asset base of close to $100 million.

But why has the sprawling, seven-bedroom mansion been left abandoned in Tanaky bushes, with apparently no one interested in taking it over?

"Nobody never go deh go stay. Mi don't even know if him family ever come," one resident told THE STAR.

"After him just dead, people use to come and go, but a mostly just fi see where him did live and come make video. One and two man did take time move the one and two little things. If yuh notice, not even farm people farm pon it. We just make it stay deh," the resident said.

When the news team visited Tanaky last Friday, the area still appeared calm and peaceful, with farmers tending to their crops and animals. Among them was an elderly man who recalled the shock of learning that he had been living near a notorious figure.

"Mi did frighten bad, because the morning we get up and mi hear one bag a noise. Mi not even did know say a shot dem deh, but mi come out in the rain and go stand up at a shop and see bare soldier and police and a wonder a what happen. Den mi hear say dem kill the man at the white house, and mi a wonder why. Di police dem a show we some picture and a ask if we recognise him, but mi never realise; is when mi see di brown picture of him mi see say a him dead," the man said.

Another man said he was just a teenager when Bublie's house was being constructed, but he managed to get a few days work after school.

"Mi nuh remember how much him did a pay, but a did good amount. So after school, mi would come and help move blocks and steel, and him would give me a ting. Him never talk a lot still, but him did kind. A whole heap a di workman dem did shock when him dead; and dem did even more frighten fi know say a him. Him house did have in some nice furniture, too. Some big, big settee and dem ting deh. Flat-screen TV never deh 'round dem time deh, but him did have some nice ones, the big back ones," the man said.

Another woman added that over the years, she has learnt about the migration of dons to quiet communities, but said she believed that Bublie would not have been a threat to Tanaky.

"Mi hear say dem kill one top man since week, too. A nuff time we will hear say bad man run way and come live a country area, and if dem smart dem live deh fi a long time, too. But den, yuh have the rest who a go come hype up dem self and try run place, and country people nuh inna dem ting deh. Bublie wasn't like that though. If yuh notice how far from road him house was. It look like him did just want settle in and live quietly," the woman said.

The revisiting of Bulbie's hideaway manion, more than 19 years after his killing, came in the wake of last week's killing of Othneil Lobban, otherwise called 'Thickman', the reputed leader of the Spansh Town-based One Order Gang. The killing sparked protest in the old capital on Wednesday.

However, Prime Minister Andrew Holness appealed to persons not to support gangs. He said that these criminal organisations are responsible for 30 per cent of Jamaica's murders.

"There is a sense, and we have seen it displayed publicly, that somehow the gangs are protectors of the community or are your friends. The gangs are not your protectors, they are not your friends, they are using you," Holness said.