STATE OF TASMANIA v PAUL GRAHAM WADLEY 7 FEBRUARY 2022
COMMENTS ON PASSING SENTENCE PEARCE J
Paul Wadley, you plead guilty to cultivating a controlled plant for sale. I will also deal with your plea of guilty to three counts of the summary charge of possessing a controlled plant.
At about 4 pm on 10 February 2021 your 4WD utility was pulled over by the police at Lefroy. There was a strong smell of cannabis and the police conducted a search. They found a chaff bay in the rear tray containing about 3.5 kilos of cannabis plant material and some gardening equipment. When interviewed at the police station you claimed that you had found the cannabis in the bush when out driving with your son. You still maintain that to be true, but regardless of the truth or otherwise of that version, when the police searched your home in George Town a few hours later they found more cannabis. They found cannabis plants and approximately 1.6 kilograms of cannabis bud. Seven the plants were in a wheelbarrow, three were lying next to a compound in the back yard, two were in a pot, seventeen were in a hydroponic set up in the shed and one was near the entrance to the shed. There was other plant material of little value, and some additional hydroponic growing equipment. As it turned out the plant material found in the back of the ute was of no value. You claim that the seven plants in the barrow and the three on the ground were no good because they had not developed any head. You say that the two in the pot were immature. However you somehow had saleable cannabis head which depending on how it was sold, was worth somewhere between $7500 and $27,000. You were interviewed again. This time you admitted that all of the cannabis and items were yours.
You claim that your original intention was to grow cannabis to make butter to assist your elderly father with pain. You purchased cannabis seed on-line, planted some in the ground in late October or early November. However when he died in November 2020 you decided to sell what you were growing instead to make money to pay off debts. In addition, you also planted the hydroponic plants about six weeks before they were discovered.
You are aged 53. You have no relevant prior convictions. You are in poor health. You work as a fly in fly out worker but you are currently on workers compensation benefits as a result of a hernia which is already been the subject of three failed surgeries. Further surgery is scheduled soon. You have become depressed about your situation which may also have contributed to your poor decision to try to make money from selling cannabis. You eventually admitted what you had done but only when it became clear that you could not avoid the truth. Your early pleas of guilty are in your favour, especially at a time when the pandemic is so disruptive to the facilitation of justice. At a time when trials are delayed, the plea of guilty carries additional weight. This was a very unsophisticated operation, even though it involved some hydroponic plants. The quantity involved was relatively small and the period of offending short. There is no evidence of any actual sales. I accept that you are unlikely to try this again. Because of your poor health and injury you are not suitable for community service and supervision is not recommended. I agree with your counsel that the crime does not warrant a sentence of imprisonment or home detention. Your financial circumstances are tight but you still have capacity to pay a fine, which I think is the proper sentence.
You are convicted on complaint 32427/21, counts 1 to 4 inclusive. I make an order that the grow light and ballast box seized from you on 10 February 2021 and listed on property receipt 281909 be forfeited to the State of Tasmania. You are fined $2500. I may only give you 28 days to pay. If you require longer you must apply to enter into a repayment arrangement.