Marcus Hole, Sandra Skegro learnt their fate at the Dandenong Magistrates’ Court

A Lynbrook mother who grew her own cannabis to treat her chronic pain and a Pakenham man who wrestled a police officer have learnt their fate in court.

A mother who was growing cannabis plants, weighing more than 667g, didn’t know it was illegal, and a man who wrestled a police officer have been sentenced.

Check out the latest sentences from the Dandenong Magistrates’ Court.

A self-medicating chronically ill mother

A Lynbrook mother who was caught growing two cannabis plants, said it was for treating her chronic pain, when police executed a search warrant at her address for an unrelated matter.

Sandra Skegro, 44, was sentenced after pleading guilty to charges of cultivating a narcotic plant and possessing cannabis.

Police executed a search warrant at her address on June 6 last year for an unrelated matter when they found two cannabis plants and loose cannabis in a shed out the back, the court heard.

One plant weighed 151.89g and the other weighed about 515.9g, and the cannabis amounted to more than 200g.

Skegro told police during an interview the cannabis was hers and also said she didn’t know it was illegal to grow two plants.

She also told police she grew two plants in case one died and was planning on making medicinal oil after looking up how to do it on the internet.

The court heard the mother grew cannabis to help with her fibromyalgia — a condition which results in chronic pain of the muscles and bones — and depression.

Skegro has been suffering since the condition since 2017 and was a result of PTSD, the court heard.

Prosecution submitted a fine and community order wouldn’t be out of reach in sentencing Skegro, in order to send a message to other people looking to “self medicate”.

Magistrate Jason Ong asked Skegro what penalty she thought she would receive to which she said: “I’m not sure, if I knew I wouldn’t have done it … I didn’t know it was illegal”.

“It’s not for selling, I don’t smoke, I just use the oil for my pain,” she said.

Mr Ong handed down an $800 fine without conviction.

Marcus Hole learnt his fate in court.

Pakenham man spits on police

A Pakenham man who wrestled with a police officer before spitting on him was jailed for six months.

Marcus Hole pleaded guilty on Tuesday to charges of attempted theft of a motor vehicle, trespassing, assaulting and resisting an emergency worker and breaching a correction order.

Police knocked on the door of a Pakenham property with a warrant for Hole regarding a breach of parole on November 26, 2020, the court heard.

Officers saw multiple people run towards the back of the house through a glass door before Hole answered the door and told police he wasn’t there.

“Where’s the warrant, where’s the warrant,” Hole said.

His arms were stretched out to prevent police from entering the property before he was taken to the ground and arrested.

While he was on bail on June 7 in 2021, Hole attended a street in Cranbourne North about 12.30am where he attempted to break into multiple cars, the court heard.

Hole was seen looking into multiple vehicles by witnesses before the looked into a toolbox in the back of a ute.

He then walked to the back gate of a house where he was confronted by the occupant before he continued to knock on other doors.

Police then arrived and attempted to arrest Hole but he resisted and began wrestling with one of the officers, bringing him to the ground before he was placed into the police van , where hespat on an officer.

Hole then provided police with an incorrect name and address.

During a police interview Hole told police he didn’t remember “a single thing from the night before” that he would “never do anything like that” but couldn’t explain his actions.

He was found to be in breach of his bail curfew that outlined he must be at home between 9pm and 6am unless in the company of his mum or dad.

Hole appeared via video link on Tuesday from custody when Magistrate Tony Burns convicted him and handed down a six-month sentence.