A George Town man who planned on selling about $4000 worth of cannabis he found in bushland, has been sentenced to 84 hours of community service.
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Gary Raymond Cooper discovered three mature cannabis plants while cutting wood with friends on March 9.
The 27-year-old, father of three, took the plants back to his George Town home where he stripped them and set the usable parts out to dry.
Cooper’s home was searched the next day, after police “got wind” of his activity. Police discovered the cannabis in Cooper’s backyard and shed, as well as a used smoking device.
The amount of cannabis that had been dried and weighed amounted to just over a kilogram.
During police interviews Cooper admitted his guilt, but said he wasn’t a drug user.
He told police the smoking device was at his home for the use of visitors, but said he intended to sell his share of the cannabis over the coming days.
Cooper appeared in Launceston Supreme Court on Wednesday where he pleaded guilty to charges of trafficking a controlled substance and possessing a homemade smoking device.
In his comments of passing sentence, Justice Robert Pearce said Cooper was cutting wood to supplement his family’s income when he found the plants and the temptation was too much to resist.
“It was a very short lived and low level enterprise,” Justice Pearce said.
“I am satisfied that he has learned his lesson and he is unlikely to offend in this way again.”
Cooper was ordered to forfeit the smoking device to the Crown and pay a victim of crime compensation levy of $70.