A judge says the son of the late philanthropist and Mainfreight founder Neil Graham must have been “wilfully blind” not to realise how much cannabis was being grown on his property at Ellesmere.
But the police accept the offending was not as sinister as when 51-year-old Dean Alan Lindsay Graham was arrested 18 months ago in a raid on a rural property southwest of Christchurch.
They dropped six charges against Dean Graham at the Christchurch District Court today and he then admitted charges of allowing his premises to be used for growing cannabis, a licensing breach under the Arms Act over firearms found at the property, and possession of a cannabis pipe.
Neil Graham, the co-founder of trucking giant company Mainfreight, died in September 2015, aged 71, after a long illness.
Judge Tom Gilbert said the police accepted they could not prove beyond reasonable doubt that Dean Graham knew how much cannabis was being grown by someone else in a shipping container and trailer unit on the property.
Graham had thought it was a handful of plants. But police found a sophisticated hydroponic growing room with transformers, ducting, lighting rigs, and nutrition supply system. They found 109 cannabis seedlings and 29 grown plants in the trailer unit and four dead cannabis plants in the container.
Defence counsel Jonathan Eaton QC told the court that Graham knew some cannabis was being grown by another person and had provided police with the name and address of the person involved.
“You must have been wilfully blind to what was going on,” Judge Gilbert told Graham. “The grow was clearly a reasonable grow with a commercial end to it.”
Police searched the 1 hectare property on January 25, 2017, and in Graham’s bedroom they found a .22 rifle and a Webley revolver as well as ammunition. Mr Eaton said the firearms had been inherited from his father’s collection. The Webley was a collector’s item which had never been used. The rifle was used for shooting rabbits.
He said the police had originally laid unlawful possession charges relating to the firearms and ammunition. “But they now accept that it is a licensing offence rather than the pistol being possessed for some nefarious purpose.”
Judge Gilbert noted that Graham had previous convictions for similar offending, but they were more than 30 years ago. He accepted that Graham had had a difficult few years “with the breakdown of a marriage, the death of parents, and depression and anxiety”.
He imposed a sentence of 80 hours’ community work, and a fine of $500. He ordered that all the drugs equipment be destroyed.
Dean Graham had interim name suppression after his arrest, but it has now been lifted.
The post Son of businessman admits knowing of cannabis grow appeared first on Courtnews.co.nz.