A Dubbo property was the scene of the cultivation of a commercial quantity of cannabis when it was searched by police.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Inside a shed on the Depot Road site, detectives found 61 of the prohibited plants at various growth stages and the lighting, watering, fans and other features making up the “enhanced indoor cultivation system”, Dubbo District Court found.
On Thursday two men who pleaded guilty for involvement in the “joint criminal enterprise” that came undone in February 2017 faced Judge Philip Ingram.
Electrician Gregory Joseph Dunn, 55, of Dubbo was sentenced to a 22-month jail term for the cultivation of a commercial quantity of a prohibited plant.
The sentence was suspended on the condition he enter into a bond with a number of requirements, with the court taking into account the offender’s age, prior exemplary character and his pleas of guilty.
Co-offender Jamie Bryan Dunn faced the District Court for the cultivation of a commercial quantity of cannabis, as well as supplying a commercial quantity of a prohibited drug and a string of firearm charges.
The 36-year-old Dubbo man was sentenced to an aggregate sentence of a jail term of four years and six months, with a non-parole period of three years.
With time served on remand his earliest release date to parole is February 2020.
Gregory Dunn was also before the court on a charge of use/consume/ waste electricity without authority, and the offence of deemed supply of 34kg of cannabis was also taken into account at sentence.
In assessing the objective seriousness of Gregory Dunn’s matter, Judge Ingram noted the offender was the owner of the shed and arranged for two rooms, and a powerboard on the exterior.
It was well above the lower end of the scale, Judge Ingram said.
Gregory Dunn’s moral culpability was at a significant level, but he had no prior criminal history and was genuinely remorseful, as evidenced by his guilty pleas and expressions of remorse.
A six-month jail term was also handed down for the use electricity without authority offence, also suspended on the condition Gregory Dunn enter into a good behaviour bond.
Jamie Dunn sat in the dock as he faced sentence for cultivating a commercial quantity of a prohibited plant and three counts of possessing an unauthorised prohibited firearm.
Further offences of supplying 36.93kg of a prohibited drug, not keeping firearms safely and possessing unregistered firearms were also taken into account.
The court heard a tic book had been seized showing sums outgoing and incoming.
Judge Ingram said the court was satisfied the drug offence was carried out for financial gain.
Among the firearms matters was shortening a firearm, by sawing off a shotgun, which represented a “serious example” of the offence, the judge said.
Charges of possessing unauthorised prohibited firearms, possessing unregistered firearms and not keep firearms safely related to a number of guns found by police in the roof struts of a garage, on a bedroom floor and in the top of a wardrobe, the court heard.
Judge Ingram noted Jamie Dunn’s work history, and that the 36-year-old had an offer of a job, submissions heard last month.
The offender had given evidence he was genuinely sorry, and particularly had seen the damaging effects of drugs on fellow inmates during his 19 months on remand since his arrest.
The judge noted Jamie Dunn had no prior record, accepted he was genuinely remorseful, and was satisfied he had good prospects for rehabilitation.
The court made a finding of special circumstances to vary the standard non-parole period, citing first time in custody, mental health issues, need to provide complete rehabilitation and for the offender’s integration back into the community.