A wild sheep chase in Middlemarch led to a $50,000 police drug bust, a court has heard.
This week Steven George Robertson, 70, admitted cultivating cannabis, supplying cannabis, possessing cannabis, possessing cannabis utensils and possessing an airgun without a licence.
On March 14, a sheep had escaped and found its way into Robertson’s yard.
The owners of the sheep were concerned and got into an argument with Robertson before contacting police.
A few hours later, police executed a search warrant at the defendant’s house for the firearm.
Inside, they found bags of cannabis, scales and cannabis hung up to dry on a clothes horse in the shed.
Police located 3.65kg of cannabis in total.
A bong and three cannabis plants were also found, two of which were more than 2m tall.
Robertson told police most of the cannabis was for personal use, but he sometimes shared it with others who wanted it.
The defendant had previous convictions for cultivating cannabis and selling cannabis, a police summary said.
Counsel Alexandra Bligh said her client used the cannabis as pain relief and had since been prescribed medicinal cannabis.
Judge David Robinson said despite the large amount of the drug, he still considered the offending to be low level.
He sentenced Robertson to 175 hours’ community work and ordered that the bong and air rifle be destroyed.
