Fine and acquittal

Press, 7 May 1983, Page 6

Fine and acquittal

A man, in the District Court yesterday, was convicted and fined $lOOO on a charge, which he admitted, of cultivating cannabis at his property in Burwood on December. 14. However, the defendant, Graham Randall McNaughton, aged 37, a meat-worker, was acquitted by a jury of a charge of possessing the cannabis for supply or sale to others. The jury reached its verdict after a retirement of 19 minutes. The defendant, who was represented by Mr P. M. James, denied the charge of possession of the drug for supply or sale.

Mr B. M. Stanaway said when outlining the Crown’s case that the quantity of cannabis found at the defendant’s property was in excess of the 28 grams, at which it was presumed the drug was intended for supply or sale to others. Prosecution evidence was given that police found 56 cannabis plants, each nearly 2m high growing in a glasshouse in the defendant’s garden. These, when analysed, were found to weigh a total of 20.3 kg. Two packets of cannabis found in a bedroom weighed 14.2 grams and 16.5 grams.

A small film cannister with a number of seeds, and two books on growing and using cannabis, were also found. The defendant said that the cannabis was for his own use, and that he had been smoking the drug for 10 years. He had been given some seeds by a friend last year and had planted them in August. He was surprised at the heavy growth they made, but had not thinned them out because books on the subject showed that only 50 per cent of a crop were female plants, which were better for smoking, and that 90 per cent of the

plants were water content. He did not know how much cannabis he would have available to smoke. After the jury’s verdict of not guilty on this charge Judge Fraser discharged the defendant, but then sentenced him on the charge of cultivating the cannabis. He said that the defendant had no previous convictions, and had a settled domestic and family situation and permanent employment. A fine commensurate with the seriousness of the offence was the appropriate penalty.