A friend of an accused drug trafficker told a Supreme Court jury that he had seen no cannabis growing in the shed in which he lived in 2013-14.
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Regan Edward Frank Earle was giving evidence in the trial of a Hadspen man Benjamin Andrew Stebbeings.
Mr Stebbeings has pleaded not guilty to trafficking in a controlled substance, possessing equipment for the cultivation of cannabis and dealing with property believed to be the proceeds of crime.
The court heard on Tuesday that police seized $40,000 cash from a house in Hadspen and eight cannabis plants from a shed on a property in Pateena Road, Travellers Rest, in a raid in January 2016.
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In what Crown prosecutor Peter Sherriff said was a circumstantial case the Crown is partly relying on increased electricity usage between 2012 and 2016 as evidence of Mr Stebbeings' drug trafficking operation.
Mr Earle said he sold Mr Stebbeings a range of hydroponic equipment in 2010 for about $3000 from his brother's farm at Frankford.
He said he had been homeless when Mr Stebbeings offered him accommodation in a shed at Pateena Road about 2013-14.
Under cross-examination from defence counsel Greg Richardson, Mr Earle said that there had no tents with cannabis plants while he lived there.
He said Mr Stebbeings worked to restore cars in the shed.
Mr Earle said that he was not aware of anyone else living on the property.
The jury will examine a 79-page record of power bills from the Pateena Rd property this afternoon.
Nick Clark
I am the Supreme and Magistrates Court reporter for The Examiner. My journalism career has clicked over 34 years and encompasses four different spells at Tasmanian newspapers.
I am the Supreme and Magistrates Court reporter for The Examiner. My journalism career has clicked over 34 years and encompasses four different spells at Tasmanian newspapers.
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