Magistrate jails dope dealer Marshall Sigley after cannabis and cash raid

Drug user found with more than 1.7kg of cannabis and $4500 in cash told cops `I grow it and smoke it’.

A MOORABBIN magistrate has jailed a drug dealer who tried to tell cops his massive stash of hash was for personal use.

The chronic drug user had been found with over 1.7kg of cannabis, over $4500 in cash, Ziploc bags and a hydroponic set-up in his garage in a police sting.

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Yet he told detectives that all of it was for “personal use”, saying “I grow it and smoke it” — despite investigators also finding incriminating texts on his mobile phone.

Marshall Sigley pleaded guilty to drug cultivation and trafficking offences at Moorabbin Magistrates’ Court today.

The court heard the 39-year-old’s Malvern East house was raided by police at 6.50am on May 25 this year.

Inside they found him, his partner, a load of dope, a variety of resealable bags and cash hidden in drawers, phones and cannabis seeds in a freezer.

All up the cannabis weighed 1719g, and the cash totalled $4510.

Sigley then led detectives to his locked garage where they located the hydroponic set-up, seven cut plants and seven roots.

He also gave cops his phone password, and they discovered a range of deals set out in texts.

In court his defence lawyer said Sigley had a longstanding drug habit dating back to his childhood, which included him being expelled from two schools for smoking dope.

He said apart from the cash there were no trappings of dealing and no lavish material assets.

He said he was trying to combat his addiction by having counselling, and now suffered a brain injury after he was bashed last year.

But magistrate Charles Tan said the personal use defence could not be believed.

“In my time as a magistrate I have not come across this amount of dried cannabis,” Mr Tan said.

“And the text messages, the money; the level of cannabis cultivation was substantial.

“The sheer volume of cannabis and level of trafficking means imprisonment.”

Sigley was jailed for three months, and upon release must do a 12-month community corrections order involving drug counselling.

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