Housesitter sprung caring for 84 cannabis plants in Ringwood

A ringwood housesitter will spend up to two-and-a-half years behind bars after he was nabbed babysitting almost 70kg of marijuana plants.

Cuong Nguyen was caught cultivating a commercial quantity of cannabis.

A ringwood housesitter will spend up to two-and-a-half years behind bars after he was nabbed babysitting a huge pile of cannabis.

And a judge has declared there is a “strong prospect” he will be deported after his release.

Cuong Nguyen, 32, was sentenced in the County Court on November 9 after previously pleading guilty to cultivating a commercial quantity of cannabis.

Police raided a Ringwood house on May 28 and nabbed Nguyen in the laundry.

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They found a hydroponic set-up growing 84 cannabis plants, weighing just over 68kg.

The court heard Nguyen had been growing the plants for a month, and visited the house every second day to water and fertilise them.

He was given the job by a man he met at St Albans Market who promised him $10,000 once it was completed.

Nguyen, who has a previous cultivation conviction, moved from Vietnam to Australia to marry a woman he met online and was living on a spousal visa.

The court heard they had three children but had since separated and Nguyen was unemployed at the time of his offending.

Judge Gabriele Cannon told Nguyen she had given his sentence a “significant discount” due to his early guilty plea.

She also said she had factored in the worries Nguyen would have over the “strong prospect that you will be deported after you are released”.

“While I am sure that you are very sorry that you were caught … you do not seem to have had any hesitation in becoming involved yet again in cannabis cultivation, this time on a far grander scale,” she said.

Judge Cannon sentenced Nguyen to three years’ jail with a non-parole period of two years.

She declared Nguyen had already served 165 days of his sentence in pre-detention.

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