Cairns crime: Thomas Wilhelm Mann pleads guilty on cannabis, gun charges

A man who said he grew cannabis to treat his own chronic pain and agreed to store two guns for a former friend was sentenced in Cairns District Court on Thursday.

Police doing a check for illegal firearms at a Goldsborough Valley property discovered 350 cannabis seedlings and 47 plants, Cairns District Court heard on Thursday.

Thomas Wilhelm Mann, 57, pleaded guilty to producing and possessing a dangerous drug and unlawful possession of a weapon.

Police visited the family property on January 27, 2022 and found the plants in bushland near the home, along with two rifles wrapped in cloth stored in a boat in a shed.

Defence barrister Peter Feeney told the court Mann had his own roof contracting business and used the cannabis to relieve chronic pain and help him sleep.

He said Mann had been a very active member of Goldsborough Rural Fire Service until 1991, and until recently had cared for a 25-year-old son who had a disability after suffering meningitis as an infant.

Goldsborough Valley man Thomas Mann, 57, said he grew cannabis for his personal use to treat chronic pain. Picture: Supplied

Mann shared care of his son with his ex-wife, who lived in another house on the property.

He planned to continue farming and work part-time, but when the Cerebral Palsy Foundation stepped in and offered care for his son, Mann was able to start his own business, employing two others.

“His method was to just have some plants on hand to grow once every couple of years, he was not seeking to grow plants for the buds and so on, just the leaf material,” Mr Feeney said.

“He had firearms in his possession in unusual circumstances,” Mr Feeney said.

He explained Mann’s daughter had a boyfriend he got along well with several years ago.

“The young fellow went to Ingham for work and around seven or eight years later, he returned a somewhat different man,” Mr Feeney said.

“He returned to the property unexpectedly and asked if he could leave the firearms there.

“Mr Mann said ‘I was surprised when he turned up, I was caught in a bit of a moment, he was a bit intimidating, he just had that look, and I decided to agree’,” Mr Feeney explained.

“It was a poor decision.”

Fining Mann $1500 for drug offences and $500 for the weapons offence and ordering no conviction be recorded, Judge Deborah Richards noted the prosecution had accepted the marijuana plants were for personal use.

“The most serious part of this offending is the guns, because you didn’t even secure them, they were just in the boat, and that is potentially dangerous,” she said.

Originally published as Cairns crime: Thomas Wilhelm Mann pleads guilty on cannabis, gun charges