Community not keen on ‘Doctor Greenthumb’
North Canterbury folks don’t want “Doctor Greenthumb” – the local cannabis dealer and receiver of their stolen property – back in their community.
The name emerged when police raided a Balcairn property, found cannabis and stolen goods, and then checked the text messages on the phone of Justin Tiaki Fisher.
They found references to 10 cannabis deals in a month of text messages, goods worth $25,280 around his property, and a cannabis growing room inside a room at his house.
Christchurch District Court Judge Jane Farish jailed 34-year-old Fisher for three years four months yesterday, a prison term that is posing problems for his partner and their three children.
She has been told by Child, Youth, and Family that if Fisher eventually returned to the same cannabis lifestyle after his release, the children would be removed from her care.
The couple have lost the home they had been renting, as a result of the offending, and Judge Farish believes they will have trouble settling back into into the local community.
The police found stolen goods including a motorcycle trailer, gas brazier, weed-spray backpack, compressor, wool sacks, water pump, tools, and a kayak at the property. People buying cannabis from Fisher had been paying in stolen goods.
“Your activities encouraged the burglaries that were occurring in the North Canterbury area,” the judge told Fisher. “People who had their farms, sheds, and premises burgled are gutted that one of their number, living in their community, was so readily engaged in receiving their stolen goods.”
She said: “I think you would find it very difficult to return to that community given the level of justified animosity towards you and your co-offender who you have decided not to reveal to the police.”
Defence counsel Josh Lucas said Fisher had not been a “professional fence”, but was more of a hoarder. The stolen goods had been found “strewn around the yard”. The cannabis had been grown under lights in a curtained-off area of a room. “It is not a professional, well-run operation,” he said.
He suggested Fisher was “laid-back” in his attitude to certain matters and did not realise the gravity of his offending. He now wanted help for his drugs problem.
Fisher was appearing for sentence after admitting 14 charges of receiving stolen goods, possession of cannabis for supply, cultivation of cannabis, and unlawful possession of a shotgun that was found dismantled beneath the house.
The judge said she did not accept that Fisher was simply a hoarder. She noted he had convictions in 2005 for possession and cultivation of cannabis, and a history of dishonesty including convictions for burglary and receiving stolen property.
She was sceptical about his desire for reform. The pre-sentence report said he was “somewhat indifferent” about whether he should be using cannabis.
She noted his family situation but said that personal circumstances counted for little when sentencing commercial drug dealers.
Category: News
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