Cash-strapped man says that after burning the tenants’ plants, he was offered €5,000 to set up his own grow-op, so he did….
A judge hearing the case of an Irish man who allegedly turfed some tenants for growing weed only to set up his own illicit grow-op has ordered a suspended sentence, reasoning the accused has learned his lesson.
Judge Sean O Donnabhain made it clear that John Sheahan, 48, should not profit from the illegal venture, ordering him to pay the €5,000 ($7,500) in profit he made on his first crop, according to The Irish Times. The ordered amount of compensation has since been submitted and will be donated to an addiction-counselling centre.
Pleading guilty to possessing cannabis for sale or supply and to cultivating weed without a licence at his home in County Cork, Judge O Donnabhain sentenced the accused to two years, but the sentence was suspended in its entirety.
“He may have learned his lesson,” Judge O Donnabhain said of Sheahan, The Irish Times reports.
The sentencing follows an incident in the fall of 2019 in which Sheahan learned about a cannabis grow-op on his property, prompting him to evict the tenants. The whole matter could have ended there, but, apparently, Sheahan thought it would be a good idea simply to take over the operation himself.
Irish police discovered what they described as a sophisticated grow — complete with lights and a watering system — inside a shipping container out back of Sheahan’s house. Inside were 23 mature cannabis plants with an estimated street value of €18,400 ($27,600), as well as 253 grams
