A man who shared a house with a 77-year-old man accused of cultivating cannabis at three separate properties saw no evidence of drug cultivation, a Supreme Court jury heard.
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John David Clinton has pleaded not guilty to cultivating cannabis for sale between October 2018 and January 2019 at his home property near George Town and at two properties near Bridport.
The Crown alleges Mr Clinton cultivated 544 cannabis plants at the properties.
Mr Lake, Mr Clinton's stepson, said he was not aware that cannabis was being grown on Mr Clinton's property.
"Were you aware that cannabis was being grown at Barnbougle Road?," Crown prosecutor John Ransom asked.
"No I wasn't," Mr Lake replied.
He said that he was smoking 20 or 30 bongs a day at the time after buying a pound of cannabis before moving in. He said he was working four days a week in George Town.
He denied being involved in growing cannabis and said he had never been to the Barnbougle Road properties.
Under cross-examination from defence counsel Evan Hughes, Mr Lake agreed that an access road to Mr Clinton's property was shared with two other properties.
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One of the neighbouring properties had a car repair operation comprising more than 100 cars from which customers came and went.
Mr Lake told Mr Hughes he had never seen anything suspicious and the first thing he knew about the drug compounds was the day police raided.
The jury heard that one of the compounds was 380 metres from the home in the bush.
Detective Sergeant Glenn Evans gave evidence that he had never seen the cultivation method used at the Barnbougle Road properties.
The plants were grown in clusters with a tyre around the outside of the clumps.
He said the compounds were fenced off with chicken wire and plants were watered with a system linked with a solar power system.
The trial continues on Wednesday afternoon.
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