Jail over 'cannabis for tax'

Growing cannabis to pay the IRD landed a Hurleyville farmer in jail yesterday for one year and eight months.

An aerial search in February led police to cannabis worth up to $45,000 on Craig McColl's 4856-hectare hill country property.

McColl appeared for sentencing in the Hawera District Court yesterday, having already admitted charges in April of possessing and cultivating cannabis.

Police found 15 cannabis plants, about 1.6m tall, carrying 30-60 grams of head each.

The estimated value of each plant was $500.

The plot was surrounded by a wire mesh fence and McColl was observed tending to it while wearing overalls, a hair net and white gloves.

In the roof above the shearers' quarters police found a large bucket with scales and 855g of head with an estimated value of $7500.

In an abandoned house police found cultivation implements and a gas heater drying 1710g of head, worth $10,000 if sold by the pound or $15,000 if sold in tinnies.

Another 1750g was also found, worth more than $10,000.

Defence counsel Peter Brosnahan requested a sentence of home detention as McColl's elderly parents relied on his leasing of the farm for their survival.

He submitted McColl was not a sophisticated retailer of cannabis and had simply grown it to sell in large amounts to pay off a $30,000 IRD debt.

But Judge Allan Roberts said the seriousness of the offending and the yield, calculated to be worth between $30,000 and $45,000, removed the option of a community-based sentence.

The judge gave him credit for his early guilty plea, being in full-time employment and having no previous convictions.

Aggravating factors were premeditation, the quantity of plants, the sophistication of the operation and no apparent remorse.

"This was a deliberate course of action with a focus of securing profit," Judge Roberts said.

- © Fairfax NZ News