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A woman who turned part of her house into a “sophisticated” cannabis-growing operation used some of the drugs to pay tradies doing renovations on the property.
More than 65 mature cannabis plants and nine seedlings were discovered when police raided Haylee Jayne McGrath’s Ashburton property in September 2024.
They discovered that two bedrooms in the house had been converted into “grow rooms” with foil covering the walls and floors.
Grow tents, bright lighting and extractor fans were used to nurture the plants.
Police also found harvested cannabis with a dry weight of 704g in the house, packages of product with a further 184g, and numerous labelled glass jars containing cannabis of different strains.
In a kitchen freezer, they found 20 blocks of cannabis butter with a total weight of nearly 2kg.
In October 2024, McGrath pleaded guilty in the Ashburton District Court to charges of cultivating cannabis, selling cannabis, importing cannabis seeds into New Zealand, possessing seeds, possession of cannabis for supply, and possession of cannabis butter for supply.
She was sentenced to nine months of home detention.
Now, nearly two years after the raid, police are taking civil court action to confiscate McGrath’s house under the Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act 2009.
The act is intended to help fight crime by seizing the money and assets that criminals make from it.
McGrath told police she sustained a back injury about eight years before they raided her, and began growing cannabis to help her manage the pain.
She imported seeds from Britain initially, but these did not grow well, so she began cloning plants.
She had been growing the drug for about four years, according to a High Court judgment dealing with a police application for a restraining order over the house.
“Over this time, the operation expanded to include supplying cannabis to friends with similar needs and supplying cannabis as payment for tradespeople such as builders, electricians and plasterers who worked on the property undertaking renovations,” the judgment said.
Police seized McGrath’s phone and found numerous messages between her and others about the supply of cannabis.
“There were also messages engaging tradespeople to undertake work on her property in exchange for cannabis.”
Investigations found that the power usage at the house was higher during the cultivation period than after the raid brought it to an end.
An analysis of McGrath’s financial dealings showed deposits into her bank accounts from “third-party sources” – those not connected to her known income – of more than $61,000 over three years.
Cash deposits were used to pay for renovations, rates and mortgage repayments connected to the property.
Justice Melanie Harland said she had reasonable grounds to believe that the property was “tainted” by being acquired or maintained through significant criminal activity.
This would make it liable for confiscation under the criminal proceeds legislation.
“I am also satisfied, on a preliminary basis, that the income derived from the sale of cannabis enabled [McGrath] to service the mortgage over the property, pay rates and fund improvements,” Justice Harland said.
She granted the police application for a restraining order over the Ashburton property.
Action under the criminal proceeds law is usually a two-stage process.
After a restraining order is issued, police gather evidence and usually return to the High Court later to seek a forfeiture order transferring ownership of the “tainted” property to the Crown permanently.
The money from the liquidated assets is placed in a fund which is then used to offset the social effects of crime, such as through rehabilitation services, or to pay for crime prevention measures.
- Ric Stevens, Open Justice reporter