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Drugs being grown across three properties in Northern Tasmania would have been worth up to $700,000, a Supreme Court jury heard on Friday.
The estimate from Crown prosecutor John Ransom came in his summing up of a trial in which John David Clinton, 77, of George Town, is accused of cultivating cannabis for sale between October 2018 and January 2019.
He has pleaded not guilty saying he knew nothing of the enterprise.
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The Crown says Mr Clinton grew 544 plants at his home property near George Town and at two properties about 50km away in Barnbougle Road near Bridport.
Mr Ransom said that the credit of the defendant was a major issue in the trial.
He said that Mr Clinton had admitted when giving evidence that he had lied to police about being at the Barnbougle Road compounds.
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In a police interview Mr Clinton denied that a police surveillance photograph at the Barnbougle Road compounds was of him.
However, on Thursday he gave evidence in during his trial that the photo was of him and that he had gone there because a friend invited him.
In the police surveillance photograph taken on January 10, 2019, Mr Clinton wore the same clothes, including a cap with the word "unit" written on it, as he wore during a police interview after a raid at his home property on January 8, 2019.
"Would you at the invitation of a friend want to go into the bush and have a look at something?," he asked.
"I suggest that is the last place you would want to be going two days after you have been arrested by police.
"It is more consistent with checking up on on the backup crop."
Mr Ransom said that the way Mr Clinton told the story it was "some elusive cannabis fairy growing all this cannabis without his knowledge".
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"If he is prepared to lie to police it is a short step to tailoring his evidence before you," he said.
He said that whatever Mr Clinton's physical problems he was well and truly capable of using cable ties to secure the fencing around the compounds.
DNA was found on bags of cable ties, a water bottle and the handle of a car battery used in conjunction with solar panels to provide power to pump water.
He said Mr Clinton's evidence that he did not know of the cannabis cultivation on his own property was far fetched.
We're not dealing with a cannabis fairy, he would have to have known.
- Crown prosecutor John Ransom.
He said the only reasonable hypothesis was one of guilt.
Defence counsel Evan Hughes will sum up on Friday afternoon.
Acting Justice Brian Martin has sought the views of jury members on whether they would rather consider their verdict from 4.30pm or 5pm or begin on Monday.
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