Phillip Goussias guilty of cultivating cannabis plants found by police in Beverley
Police found a Beverley man passed out when they went to see him for an assault matter, a court has heard. What they weren’t expecting to uncover was a “sophisticated” cannabis crop.
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Police accidentally found marijuana plants growing in a Beverley shed when they went to see the homeowner, who had broken into his own house and was passed out on the couch, a court has heard.
Phillip Goussias, 32, of Beverley, has pleaded guilty to cultivating a commercial quantity of a controlled plant and diverting electricity from a power system.
Goussias’ lawyer, Chris McDonough, told the District Court his client was last year convicted of assault and property damage – and it was a visit from police for those offences that led them to find 27 mature cannabis plants in his shed, worth up to $159,000.
Mr McDonough said Goussias had fallen in with “the wrong crowd” after losing his job about five years ago and “just about reached his nadir” in May last year.
He said it was then that Goussias and an “associate” had taken Xanax and were later involved in a car crash.
Mr McDonough said when the “associate’s” father picked him up from the scene, Goussias “received a blast … essentially blaming him for his son’s problems”.
Goussias was also collected by his parents and taken back to their western suburbs home.
Mr McDonough said his client was so enraged by the “blasting” that he “escaped” his parents home and went to the home of his associate’s father where he committed the assault and property damage.
He said Goussias “staggered” back to his Beverley home and had to “break his way into” the house.
“He passed out on the lounge and in that state was found by the police,” Mr McDonough said.
“One thing essentially lead to another and the plants growing in the shed were located.”
He said Goussias did not have a key to the shed and was not personally in charge of the crop.
“(His) error was to concede to the influence of others and to allow himself to be the conduit for this offending,” he said.
Prosecutor Lara Stevens said the shed was “a purpose built grow house for the hydroponic cultivation of cannabis”.
“It is a sophisticated and effective set up and based on the fact that both mature and immature plants were located, it suggests that this was an ongoing enterprise,” she said.
Goussias will be sentenced later this month.