A Coast mum busted with more than 20 marijuana plants claimed she grew the drug after it kept “popping up randomly” in her backyard.
Deborah Louise Mountford, 47, was charged late last month after police uncovered 21 plants in the backyard of her Warana home.
The plants varied in size from seedlings to a 1m plant being propped up in a vegetable garden.
The majority were about 13cm and kept in pots.
The court heard Mountford was at a friend’s house during the search, but police detained her teenage son who told them the plants were hers.
Mountford later attended the Kawana Police Station and admitted to owning and growing the plants.
After a “traumatic” year, Mountford was struggling to sleep, and a colleague had told her the drug would help, the court heard.
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Marijuana plants were “popping up randomly” in her garden, and while she had previously been disposing of them, she decided to let them grow and watered them after learning they would help her sleep.
Mountford’s defence lawyer told the court Mountford’s partner and dad had died since the start of the year.
The court heard she had not seen a doctor before treating her sleeping problem with the drug, but she had now stopped and was seeking medical treatment.
Mountford, who works at a local fruit shop, was…
