Bathurst Local Court: Daughter grew cannabis for her sick father

A WOMAN who grew cannabis to help her terminally ill father control his pain has been convicted and fined for cultivating a prohibited plant.

Leigh Nicole Carter, of Stack Street, Windradyne, appeared in person before magistrate Cate Follent in Bathurst Local Court.

Police facts said officers attended Carter's home on January 29 this year after receiving a tip-off through Crime Stoppers.

The accused directed police to a garage where they were shown two cannabis plants and a water drip system hidden inside an old fridge.

Inside another cupboard were two cannabis plants inside two large white buckets filled with fertiliser with a water drip system attached, and another large cannabis plant was in a pot of soil.

After removing the cannabis plants police entered Carter's home and interviewed the accused.

She made full admissions to officers that she had grown the plants to assist her father.

She believed cannabis oil was better way of treating his pain than other medicines he had been taking.

The court was told the accused appeared generally upset for her father who is terminally ill with cancer and she was willing to take the risk of being caught with cannabis to help him.

References described her a person under pressure due to her father's illness, not a drug addict but a caring, loving daughter.

Another referee wrote that a conviction could jeopardise Carter's ongoing employment in the disability sector.

She was convicted for cultivating a prohibited plant and fined $1000. Orignally published here: https://www.westernadvocate.com.au/story/5989762/daughter-grew-cannabis-in-garage-to-relieve-her-sick-fathers-pain/