Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:


After you have finished reading this article you can click here to go back.

Australia: Drug lord Michael Bennett Gardner asked for 20 years' jail, and got 13

The Telegraph, Australia

Wednesday 13 Jun 2012

A MAN who grew one of the nation's biggest drug crops asked for 20 years in jail - and was given 13.

Michael Bennett Gardner Sr, 58, told the Supreme Court in Brisbane yesterday he grew the drugs to fund a nationwide anti-abortion campaign and he wished he had grown at least another 15 acres (6ha) of the drug before he was caught in mid-2008.

He then took the unusual step of urging the judge to jail him for the maximum of 20 years for the charge of trafficking, to which he pleaded guilty, saying his crime was "the top level of offending". However Justice Roslyn Atkinson - who described the offending as "evil" - agreed with the prosecution that Gardner should be sentenced to 13 years' jail.

Gardner called Justice Atkinson a "tyrant" after she handed down her sentence.

The court heard Gardner was the kingpin of a massive cannabis production scheme he ran from his property at Inglewood, in southeast Queensland, between 2004 and 2008. When police raided the property they found 6.5 tonnes of harvested marijuana and 22,000 plants worth $69 million. They also found weapons, and lookout camps.

The court heard Gardner used his young stepchildren as slave labour for the enterprise.

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/drug-lord-michael-bennett-gardner-asked-for-20-years-jail-and-got-13/story-e6freuy9-1226394907615

 

 

 

After you have finished reading this article you can click here to go back. 




This page was created by the Cannabis Campaigners' Guide.

Feel free to link to this page!