More online drug sales would be ‘pure stupidity’: judge
A man accused of selling 285 types of cannabis seeds via his website has argued his first experience of jail has left him seeking a new path in life.
A man accused of selling $700,000 worth of cannabis seeds online has been granted bail and warned it would be “pure stupidity” to break his strict release conditions.
Samuel Joseph Topia, 40, appeared in Brisbane Supreme Court on Thursday via videolink and represented himself in his bail application.
Topia was charged on August 19, 2024 with cannabis production, possession, supply, importation and trafficking at a farming property outside Kingaroy, west of Queensland’s Sunshine Coast.
Prosecutors alleged Topia had been running an online business offering sales of 285 types of cannabis seeds and had 1800 packages ready to fulfil orders.
Justice Melanie Hindman asked Topia why she should grant him bail when he had previously been convicted of similar offending at the same farm in April 2023.
“It looks like what you do is immediately go back and start doing the exact same thing that just got you into trouble,” Justice Hindman said.
Topia said his time on remand since his arrest was the first time he had been in custody.
“In the past I was misled over certain regulations I was entitled to under the research I had done,” Topia said.
Justice Hindman said Topia must have known after he was convicted that he could not continue the research he claimed to be doing on an illegal plant.
“That might have washed, perhaps, back in 2023, but surely the inference I make now is you thought, ‘bugger it, I’ll just keep doing it’,” Justice Hindman said.
Topia said he had turned 40 in custody and wanted to reconnect with estranged family members.
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“I definitely can’t do a life of this,” he said.
The crown prosecutor opposed bail, claiming Topia presented an unacceptable risk of committing further offences with an “insidious” effect of increasing cannabis production in the community.
Justice Hindman granted Topia bail on the condition he not consume cannabis even in medicinal form and not promote the sale of cannabis on his website.
“The police will be watching very closely … it would just be pure stupidity to go back to that sort of offending and no one will have any sympathy for you,” she said.
