A Tasmanian man found with 2.2kgs of cannabis hidden inside shipping containers on his large Highlands property has been sentenced to 12 months behind bars, suspended for two years.
Harry James Triffett, 32, was arrested in January 2023 after police executed a search warrant at his London Lakes address.
The Supreme Court heard officers discovered the drugs concealed in buckets and a tub, with an estimated street value of between $15,000 and $24,000.
Equipment typically used to grow the drug was also found at the property.
“I treat with considerable scepticism the defendant’s claim that the items found are consistent with indoor cultivation of plants such as tomatoes or strawberries,” Justice Stephen Estcourt said.
“That claim really adds little to the equation because the defendant is not to be sentenced for what he might have done in the future, only that with which he is charged.”
A search of Triffett’s phone revealed photographs of cannabis buds, Snapchats of a cannabis plant and screenshots of websites selling grow tents and fertiliser.
Justice Estcourt said Triffett was not a cannabis user himself and was being sentenced for trafficking based on the belief that another person intended to sell the drugs.
“There was no indication that the cannabis had been grown at the property, nor that he had sold any of it,” he said.
“This court does not distinguish between the culpability involved in trafficking cannabis, as opposed to any other illicit drug.”
“Cannabis is no longer regarded as a soft drug and it is now accepted that it is a drug with a range of potentially dangerous and harmful consequences for its users, particularly young persons.”
Triffett was sentenced to 12 months in prison, fully suspended for two years and ordered to pay $400 for the cost of drug analysis.
