A Hastings mother has been convicted after allowing her 13-year-old son to grow a 1m tall cannabis plant as a "horticultural experiment".
Karina Sharyn Glue, 37, appeared in the Hastings District Court yesterday and pleaded guilty to one count of permitting premises to be used for a cannabis offence.
Officers searched Glue's Akina home on March 9 and found the "well cared for" plant growing under a heat lamp in her teenager's bedroom, which also had tinfoil lining the walls.
Through her lawyer, Susanne Lott, she said she didn't know that growing one plant was illegal.
Glue also denied the light was a heat lamp and claimed it was an eco-friendly bulb hanging lower than usual due to unfinished renovations.
The room was previously used by her older 17-year-old son, who had admitting owning the plant.
Mrs Lott said her client secretly planned to kill the plant yet was scared of her two teenagers.
Judge Alistair Garland dismissed the "experiment" excuse and said Glue presented as a "very indulgent mother".
"You had a 13-year-old in a bedroom where a cannabis plant was growing ... your explanation that you didn't think this was against the law and was a sort of horticultural experiment was just nonsense," Judge Garland said.
"The fact you have acquiesced in your son's criminal behaviour does not reflect well upon you.
"That's not what you call good role modelling."
Glue was fined $500, plus $132 court costs.
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