Scott Damien Riddiford in court for producing drugs

A ‘sophisticated’ set-up involving clam-shell wading pools were used to grow about 25kg of cannabis on a rural property near Gympie. Read what the court heard:

A 51-year-old Wolvi man has been sentenced in a Gympie court for growing 25kg of cannabis in a “sizeable enterprise”.

Scott Damien Riddiford pleaded guilty in Gympie Magistrates Court on Thursday, August 25, 2022 to one count of producing drugs and one count of possessing items used to produce drugs.

Riddiford was found with 99 seedlings of cannabis, weighing about 25kg, produced between December 1, 2021 and March 22, 2022, the court heard.

He was also found with an irrigation pipe, water pumps and seashell shaped containers used in growing the plants on March, 2022.

Riddiford had a “sophisticated set up,” police prosecutor Melissa Campbell told the court.

The plants were grown in multiple children’s clam shell pools with an irrigation system before being rendered down with alcohol, the court heard.

“A sizeable enterprise,” magistrate Chris Callaghan said.

Riddiford’s last drug offences occurred in 2008, where police found 45 cannabis seedlings, and a total of 100 plants on two separate occasions during a search warrant, the court heard.

The drugs were used for medicinal purposes to deal with a chronic lower back pain, and were not sold commercially.

Riddiford was supported by his wife of 23 years in the public gallery and is a father of two children.

He started work as a shearer when he was 19 years old which led to his back injuries, and now has prescribed medicinal cannabis to aid his pains.

Riddiford was sentenced to nine months jail, suspended for two years. Convictions were recorded.