Adam Ziek Coleman sentenced at Gladstone for drug production

When police went to a Central Queensland gardener’s home for a non-drug related matter, they made a disturbing find.

Adam Ziek Coleman.

A gardener was busted with more than 1kg of cannabis plants growing at his Central Queensland property, a court has heard.

Adam Ziek Coleman, 41, was sentenced in the District Court at Gladstone on Wednesday after pleading guilty to producing dangerous drugs in excess of 500g.

The court heard that police attended Coleman’s residence last October to conduct a welfare check and while there, they found 55 cannabis plants growing at the property.

The plants ranged in height from 30cm to about 1m, weighing a total of 1.1kg.

Adam Ziek Coleman.

The court was told that Coleman, currently doing part-time work as a gardener having previously been employed on farms and as a removalist, had grown the cannabis for personal use to manage his back pain.

The Crown said there was no commercial element to Coleman’s offending but it was “a serious drug offence” because of the weight of cannabis involved.

The court heard Coleman had a “minor” criminal history which included a drug possession offence.

Barrister Julie Marsden said Coleman was a divorced father of two who had used cannabis since he was 17 years old.

She said Coleman conceded he was “just silly” to have put the seeds in his garden to grow, and he had never distributed or sold cannabis.

Judge Tony Moynihan fined Coleman $1500 and a conviction was recorded.