An Omanawa man found guilty of firearm and serious drug offences that could have netted him $162,000 has been jailed for a further two years.
Last month a jury found Mark Joseph Hoggart, 50, guilty of one count each of possession of cannabis for supply, cultivation of cannabis, unlawful possession of a firearm and unlawful possession of ammunition.
Hoggart, already serving a jail sentence of three years and six months for methamphetamine dealing and firearm offences, was sentenced in Tauranga District Court yesterday to a further two years' imprisonment
The charges stem from a police search of his partner's Omanawa Rd lifestyle block on March 26, 2009. During the search police found 984g of cannabis and 59 plants growing at the property, including 28 cannabis plants 1.8m high growing along a fence line, and eight small plants growing in pots near the fence.
A further 23 staked plants were found near the carport and remnants of cannabis were found on a picnic table inside the carport.
Inside a spare bedroom they located cannabis plants hanging from a string from the ceiling.
A large cardboard box containing 928g of cannabis material was found in a bedroom and cannabis remnants, scissors and secateurs were found in a second box.
Two plastic bags containing another 56g of cannabis head material were found in a plastic container in the lounge. Dried cannabis was also hanging from shelf brackets.
Boxes containing 102 rounds of .22 calibre ammunition, a full magazine of the same ammunition and a rifle barrel without a stock, were found in a dining room dresser.
The Crown said the plants could have yielded $162,000 had they grown to full maturity and been harvested and sold.
Hoggart's partner was charged with cannabis and firearm offences and found guilty at a jury trial in June last year. She received a sentence of home detention but was subsequently jailed earlier this year after breaching the sentence.
Hoggart was charged following his partner's trial after giving evidence at her trial that the drugs, firearm and ammunition were all his.
Crown prosecutor Hayley Sheridan told Judge Thomas Ingram that while Hoggart's cannabis offending occurred a year before to his P-dealing offences, a cumulative prison sentence starting at two-and-half to three years was appropriate given his past relevant convictions.
Hoggart's lawyer Craig Tuck argued for a slightly lower starting point in light of the other trial judge's view that both parties were equally responsible.
But Judge Ingram told Hoggart that the jury's guilty verdicts in his trial must have been on the basis that they accepted he was telling the truth when he told the earlier jury that all the contraband was his.
Jailed P dealer gets further sentence
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