Woman gets $50 fine for her part in drug operation
MARINE Rebecca Booth may not have been growing, selling or smoking the cannabis cultivating in her backyard, but she knew it was there.
And that is how she became implicated and charged following a drug bust near Toowoomba between February and September 2010.
The 38-year-old was living at the time rent-free with her de facto partner at a property at Laidley North.
Justice Ros Atkinson told the Supreme Court, where Booth was sentenced on Thursday, that Booth's defacto was able to live rent free on the basis he was the caretaker of the property where a "sophisticated" hydroponic cannabis set-up was.
Booth pleaded guilty to permitting the use of a place for the production of drugs.
But because of her very minimal involvement in the drug crop, she escaped Queensland's highest court with a $50 fine and no conviction.
In sentencing, Justice Atkinson said Booth knew the cannabis was there in a back shed on the property but did not inform authorities.
She said Booth, who now lives in Tweed Heads, had no criminal history and had a good work history.
The defence submitted Booth had not been actively seeking work because of the charge hanging over her head but hoped to get back into the workforce.
