The investigation of an alleged drug trafficking operation had to be the worst investigation in the history of investigations, defence counsel Greg Richardson told a Supreme Court jury in Launceston on Thursday.
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Mr Richardson was summing up the case on behalf of his client Benjamin Andrew Stebbeings.
Mr Stebbeings, of Travellers Rest, has pleaded not guilty to trafficking in a controlled substance, possession equipment with the intention of using for the cultivation of cannabis and dealing with money believed to be the proceeds of crime.
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During the two days of the trial the jury has heard that police raided a shed at Travellers Rest in January 2016 which contained eight cannabis plants and a separate raid at Hadspen found $40,000 in cash.
The Crown said part of its case against Mr Stebbeings was evidence of increased electricity usage due to lights and pumps associated with cannabis growing..
"This is shameful in the extreme," Mr Richardson said.
He told the jury he was not referring to Crown prosecutor Peter Sherriff but to Tasmania Police.
"It was the responsibility of the police to investigate, they didn't do it," he said.
"How hard is it to read a document and see what it says?," he asked.
"How hard is it to subpoena tax records and how hard is it to get bank records?
"How hard is it to do a search of vehicle registrations and see how much they were bought and sold for?
"The investigators did not feel the need to do so.
"If this was investigated properly we would not be sitting here today."
Mr Stebbeings gave evidence on Thursday morning that he liked to deal in cash and he extracted his salary from his bank account in cash.
His bank and tax records were tendered as evidence by the defence.
He told the jury that he had been growing cannabis but it was for the production of cannabis oil to help with pain control in relation to a motor vehicle crash in 2009.
Mr Richardson said the Crown had produced no evidence of any drug sales and urged the jury that trafficking could not be proved beyond reasonable doubt.
"There is no evidence, nothing," he said.
He said there could be no reliance on the Aurora Energy records of power bills because many were estimates.
But Mr Sherriff said the records of electricity usage showed high usage of up to 4281 units in one quarter.
Mr Sherriff said jury members should use their own experience of life and assess whether they would have enough money left over after living expenses to accumulate $40,000 in cash.
Mr Sherriff will complete summing up before Justice Robert Pearce sums up on Thursday afternoon.
The jury is likely to retire to consider its verdict on Thursday afternoon.
Nick Clark
I am the Supreme and Magistrates Court reporter for the Examiner for the past 18 months. My journalism career has clicked over 30 years and encompasses four different spells at Tasmanian newspapers.
I am the Supreme and Magistrates Court reporter for the Examiner for the past 18 months. My journalism career has clicked over 30 years and encompasses four different spells at Tasmanian newspapers.
