Building owner ‘freaked out’ by cannabis crop in old bank
The owner of a historic Temuka building used for a commercial cannabis enterprise has been sentenced for his role in the sophisticated growing operation that police raided in 2017.
The two-storey former bank had been converted into a grow house for 803 cannabis plants, its vault fitted out with drying and packaging equipment including lab coats and a machine for separating the head from the stem and leaves.
Timothy Lionel Te Rawaraki Snow, 47, was sentenced to nine months’ home detention and 130 hours’ community work when he appeared before Judge Joanna Maze in the Timaru District Court on Thursday.
The Geraldine man had admitted cultivating cannabis and possessing cannabis plant for supply.
Snow’s co-offender, 37-year-old Damian Richardson, is serving 12 months’ home detention on his guilty pleas to two counts of cultivating cannabis and possessing the drug for supply. He was sentenced on January 19.
Judge Maze said Snow’s motivation for getting involved was a chance to get in early on the cannabis-growing industry when laws were amended to make the drug legal for medicinal use in 2017. However, moves to legalise the personal use of cannabis were voted down in the 2020 referendum.
‘‘These would be your first convictions. You have a previously blemish-free record,’’ Judge Maze said.
‘‘You’ve now lost your relationship and the care of your children, your business in Dunedin, your health, and resources.
‘‘You are struggling to understand how you got into this situation.’’
Snow owned and ran a garden supply business out of the historical building on King St, Temuka, before shifting to Dunedin and renting the property to 37-year-old Richardson and his family.
Crown prosecutor Rob McDonald said Snow provided some equipment to Richardson for cannabis cultivation starting in July 2016.
‘‘He was paid $1000 per week for his assistance.’’
Police executed a search warrant at the address on February 22, 2017.
A shelving unit in the former bank’s kitchen pantry concealed a door, which led to five rooms containing 803 plants; a nursery for cloning and propagating plants; another space with potting and fertiliser; and a drying and packaging station in the vault.
McDonald said more than 20 kilograms of cannabis plant material and a whiteboard detailing cycles, harvesting, and packing dates were found within the vault.
A large shed at the rear of the property contained a further 88 plants.
Both buildings were wired to power several fans, lights, and dehumidifiers. Timers determined when the plants would be watered, and ducting and filters had been installed to nullify the odour.
Snow’s lawyer, Anne Stevens QC, said her client only visited the premises on two occasions and was ‘‘freaked out by the extent of what he saw’’ – but accepted he did nothing to stop it.
‘‘He will not ever concern himself with the criminal world again.’’
Stevens said Snow had been volunteering to ‘‘demonstrably try to repair some of the damage he has done to the community’’, and wanted to continue doing so through a sentence of community work.
Judge Maze said Snow would be serving home detention in Geraldine, and imposed six months of post-detention conditions.