Message Board Archives

Nes­tled amid the lush forests where a thick canopy con­ceals flour­ish­ing mar­i­jua­na plan­ta­tions, lies the scenic com­mu­ni­ty of Biche.

With a pop­u­la­tion of over 4,000, res­i­dents say the area is one of the most peace­ful. The news that the Gov­ern­ment is con­sid­er­ing the de­crim­i­nal­i­sa­tion of mar­i­jua­na this year, some res­i­dents be­lieve the fer­tile lands in Biche will now at­tract out­siders to their com­mu­ni­ty and pos­si­bly dis­rupt their easy-go­ing way of life.

Pres­i­dent of the Biche Sports Club Lewis Tom, 77, said Biche was not al­ways recog­nised as a peace­ful place.

“Peo­ple see Biche as a back­ward place but it is not so. We are very mod­ernised. We have an abun­dance of cit­rus and fruits, the va­ri­eties of which is lost to many parts of T&T,” Tom said.

The Beast of Biche

In years gone by, the sto­ry of Mano Ben­jamin evoked ter­ror among chil­dren. Ben­jamin was an out­sider whom Biche chil­dren called the Green­faced man but to the rest of the coun­try, he was known as the Beast of Biche.

To­day, not many young peo­ple know the sto­ry of Ben­jamin who held two sis­ters Lu­cieann and Dul­cie Ramirez cap­tive in­side a house at the Biche quar­ry where he raped, tor­tured and abused them in the 1960s. He served 20 years in prison for his crimes. One of the sis­ters was blind­ed with acid while the oth­er was sex­u­al­ly mu­ti­lat­ed. Both women have since died and their de­scen­dants up to this day do not know the ex­tent of tor­ture they en­dured.

Vil­lager Al­bert Mc Ken­zie, 80, re­called the days when Ben­jamin evoked ter­ror in the com­mu­ni­ty. De­scrib­ing Ben­jamin as a boast­ful man, Mc Ken­zie said he used to lime at a bar in Biche and al­ways had a knife at hand. He prid­ed him­self on be­ing an ex­cel­lent knife throw­er, Mc Ken­zie said.

On the day Ben­jamin was ar­rest­ed, Mc Ken­zie said he hap­pened to be in Biche.

“I was in Teacher’s Col­lege back then. When Mano get ar­rest­ed all the women were curs­ing him for what he did to those girls. He was not hu­man look­ing. It was the most heinous crime. Af­ter he served his prison time he went to Ce­dros. He nev­er re­turned to Biche and he is dead now,” Mc Ken­zie said.

To­day the Quar­ry Road where Ben­jamin lived and worked is hard­ly fre­quent­ed by res­i­dents. It is now an over­grown, bumpy grav­el track, with a worn out sign. Co­coa trees over­grown and un­kempt line ei­ther side of the track. The house where he lived is no longer there and peo­ple have used the land to plant ba­nanas and oth­er crops.