Home detention allowed for commercial cannabis grow

A cannabis grower moved himself into a rented warehouse during the 2019 Covid lockdown so that he could attend the valuable crop growing there. Photo / 123RF

A cannabis grower moved himself into a rented warehouse during the 2020 Covid lockdown so that he could tend the valuable crop growing there.

The two men who grew the crops there - an estimated total of $90,000 worth of cannabis - have been allowed home detention at a Christchurch District Court sentencing.

Kyle Nathan Smith, 50, got a term of eight-and-a-half months of home detention, and Alexander Browne, 30, got an 11-month term.

They will both have to do rehabilitation courses, not contact each other, and pay for the electricity stolen from Genesis Energy by bypassing the meter - an amount totalling $4022 each.

Brown will pay the reparation at $150 a week from his wages from his current full-time work as a fabricator, and Smith's contribution will come from the cash already forfeited by consent to the Crown.

The case included a claim by Smith that he had some claim of separate sovereignty and diplomatic immunity, but that was dismissed by a different judge at an earlier hearing.

The cannabis operation had been a joint operation, and Judge Jim Large said he could not "in all conscience" send one of the men to prison while the other got home detention.

Browne had admitted charges of cultivating cannabis, selling cannabis, theft of electricity, receiving stolen property and unlawful possession of a firearm.

Smith admitted two charges of procuring methamphetamine and cocaine, cultivating cannabis, selling cannabis and possessing it for sale.

The men rented a commercial property in Ferry Rd from November 2019 until the police raid in May 2020, when police found 85 plants growing. Ten crops had been grown, and the cannabis was estimated to be worth $90,000.

Smith moved into the warehouse during lockdown so that he could continue to look after the growing cannabis.

Police sighted Browne with stolen jet skis, and a restricted firearm was found in a ceiling cavity at his address. He was found with $18,100 cash and a Bitcoin wallet containing about $22,000.

Smith admitted receiving a parcel in the post containing cocaine – suspected to be about 3 grams – and his computer contained four orders for methamphetamine on the dark web.

Both men had undergone rehabilitation programmes during their remands and Brown had obtained a full-time job.

Phillip Allan, defence counsel for Browne, said he had given into the temptation for quick money, but all of that had been taken away by the Criminal Procedures Act. He was now a "different person" compared to the one who had been arrested in 2022.

Andrew McKenzie, counsel for Smith, said he had grown cannabis to pay for his methamphetamine addiction "because it was a skill he had".

Browne's partner had been in court to support him during the sentencing, while a jail term hung in the balance. At the end, she stood in the public seating and said that "with all due respect", she thanked the judge for the sentence allowing home detention.

"It's up to him where he goes from now," said Judge Large.