Vietnamese jailed for watering hundreds of cannabis plants at Portland grow house

Quyet Vo, 40, of St Albans, pleaded guilty in Warrnambool County Court on Monday to cultivating a narcotic plant in a commercial quantity and negligently dealing with proceeds of crime.

He was jailed for 18 months with a non-parole period of 12 months.

Vo has already served 279 days in custody on remand and is facing potential deportation upon his release from prison.

The Vietnamese national was arrested at a property in Portland's Must Street after a police raid uncovered 282 cannabis plants weighing nearly 140 kilograms on May 19 last year.

The plants were at various stages of maturity and were seized from eight separate rooms of the property, which police told The Standard was "lit up like a Christmas tree" at 5.15am.

The sophisticated hydroponic set-up included 169 electrical transformers, heat lamps with exhaust extractors connected to five electrical timers and various brands of bottled fertiliser.

Detectives also seized $1035 cash believed to be proceeds of crime from a Toyota Camry parked out the front.

The court heard Vo attempted to hide from police but was located outside the property and subsequently arrested.

Judge Mark Gamble said he accepted that Vo arrived at the Must Street property the night before the raid intending to "pump water into the cannabis plants".

He said after Vo lost his job at a Melbourne butcher in March 2020, he befriended a person who later asked him to help with the cannabis crop being grown in Portland.

The court heard the name of that person had been provided to police.

The judge said Vo had not received an income for seven weeks and was tempted by the offer of being paid $200 to water the illegal plants.

"On each occasion you travelled from Melbourne to Portland in your own vehicle and returned almost immediately," he said.

He said Vo watered the plants every three days, attending the property on five occasions before being discovered by police.

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Judge Gamble said he accepted Vo's involvement was "low in the hierarchy" of what was clearly a commercial enterprise.

But he said watering the plant was also crucial to its survival.

"There must have been no doubt that this was a criminal venture engaged in for profits for those who were behind it," the judge said.

"In attending as you did, you assisted those more involved from having to do so themselves and therefore provided them with a layer of safety from detection and prosecution."

Judge Gamble said Vo clearly knew it was illegal to grow cannabis because when he saw police he ran because he was scared.

The judge said Vo had excellent prospects of rehabilitation and received a sentencing discount for his early guilty plea and promise to assist law enforcement in the prosecution of cultivation and any other offences against those involved.

He said Vo was "vulnerable to the approach and invitation from your friend given the difficult financial circumstances in which you found yourself in".

"You have good and consistent work history and unblemished character until you chose to become involved in this criminal operation," he said.

The judge said if not for Vo's guilty plea, he would have been sentenced to two years and three months' jail with a non-parole period of 20 months.

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