Family woes drive man to be cannabis ‘crop sitter’

Prosecutor Sandra McDougall told the court police found an elaborate hydroponic cannabis crop in 10 rooms of a house in Labuan Rd, Strathmerton, on June 15 last year.

Police found 307 marijuana plants of varying sizes, with a weight of 245.86kg.

This is 10 times the amount of cannabis needed to constitute being a commercial crop.

A large shed on the property had been set up as a drying room for the cannabis, and an electrical bypass was also in place.

Ms McDougall said Bui told officers during a police interview he had stayed at the house for six or seven weeks after meeting a man at Centrelink who offered him a job.

He told police he mixed chemicals and cut small branches to grow new plants as part of his role.

He was paid $700 a week for his part and would get a $7000 bonus when the crop was harvested.

The court heard the cannabis crop was two or three weeks from harvesting when police searched the property, according to Bui.

Bui’s defence barrister Matt Cookson told the court his client was “living in the area” at the time and not at the Strathmerton crop house.

He told how Bui had financial pressures on him at the time of the offences.

Mr Cookson spoke of Bui’s “unswerving and irrational loyalty” to his wife who had a gambling problem with poker machines and had pawned his car to pay her debts.

He also told of how Bui had a close relationship with his wife’s young son, who has Down syndrome, and who was now in the care of Bui’s sister-in-law after Bui’s wife had effectively abandoned him.

Mr Cookson also told how Bui provided $1000 to $2000 a month to a former wife and children in Vietnam and was paying $400 a month for treatment for a health condition his father had.

“This indicates the pressures he was under,” Mr Cookson said.

“He turned to these methods to try and fix the numbers for his family.

“It was an unusual conflux of issues that saw him under pressure that led to him making the choice he did.”

Mr Cookson said while it was not uncommon for people on cannabis cultivation charges to come from overseas and not have any prior convictions, his client was unusual in that he had lived in Australia for 10 years and had set down roots here.

The defence counsel said the consequences of the offending were something that would break Bui’s relationship with his adopted son, as it was not a relationship that had the capacity to survive if Bui was deported after his release from jail.

Bui had no prior convictions and Mr Cookson said his prospects of rehabilitation were “extremely positive”.

In sentencing Bui, Judge Geoffrey Chettle said while any decision on whether Bui was deported would be made by the government, he took into account the fear of such an outcome had on making Bui’s time in custody more onerous.

While he said Bui’s prospects of rehabilitation were good, he said he had been involved in a “serious criminal exercise”.

“The number of the plants and the weight are a significant crop,” Judge Chettle said.

Bui was sentenced to 30 months in prison, and will have to serve 20 before becoming eligible for parole.

The 322 days he has already spent in pre-sentence detention will count as time already served.