The lawyer for a former South Coast mayor who pleaded guilty earlier this month to cultivating more than $250,000 worth of cannabis has told a court her client is aware she let everybody down but she is "only human".
Liz Innes, who was the Eurobodalla Shire Council mayor between 2016 and 2021, was today sentenced to a two-year community corrections order and fined $4,000.
Her large collection of plants was discovered at her home in February when police were patrolling Runnyford, west of Batemans Bay, on an unrelated matter, according to documents tendered to the court.
The documents showed that when officers approached, Ms Innes said "they are mine" and later commented on "how good of a job she had done growing the plants".
Cannabis habit 'a result of reaching breaking point'
During sentencing, Ms Innes's lawyer Keely Boom told the court her client had given great service to the community but had reached her breaking point after the Black Summer bushfires of 2019-20, which burned along the South Coast.
Ms Boom said Ms Innes had been under significant pressure after the fires, which was further exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and the breakdown of her marriage.
She described to the court a period in which Ms Innes had tried to manage her poor mental health with prescribed medicines before turning to cannabis.
Ms Innes was in Canberra when she was offered a bag of cannabis seeds to grow on her own after telling an acquaintance the cost of maintaining her habit had become prohibitive, the court heard.
Ms Innes spread the seeds in her vegetable patch at her Runnyford property.
The court heard the former mayor was "horrified" when police counted 76 plants, and said she only ever intended to grow the cannabis for personal use.
Ms Boom told the court her client was aware of the "great shame" she had brought on her family and described the conviction as a "great blow" to her reputation.
"As an important community role model, she is aware that she has let everybody down," Ms Boom said.
Through her lawyer, Ms Innes asked the court to take her circumstances into account.
"I'm human too," she said. "Be kind, don't be cruel."
Reputation 'thrown away'
Magistrate Doug Dick told the court that while he acknowledged the stress Ms Innes had been under, the offending could not be ignored.
"This sort of offending cannot be tolerated," he said.
Several friends and family were in court to support Ms Innes.
"You've let them down and the only way to repay them is to turn your life around," Magistrate Dick said.
"In regards to your reputation, you've thrown it away."
As a condition of her community corrections order, Ms Innes must abstain from illicit substances and attend drug and alcohol rehabilitation and counselling services.
