Drug dealers who locked a young boy inside a shipping container on a cannabis farm have been jailed.
Police raided the property, north-west of Taree, in December 2015 on suspicions of cannabis production, when they chanced on the detained child.
There was a small desk, paint tins and a soiled mattress inside the container, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.
Police raided the property, north-west of Taree, in December 2015 on suspicions of cannabis production, when they chanced on the detained child
Drug dealers who locked a young boy inside a shipping container on a cannabis farm have been jailed
The 30-year-old man, the partner of the child’s mother, responsible was charged on April 27
‘I felt like an animal, I thought that I would be kept there forever,’ the boy wrote in a victim impact statement to District Court judge Leonie Flannery almost two years later.
‘It was terrible being in the shipping container. I felt sad and lonely… I felt very scared. Now sometimes it’s like everything in my mind is dead.’
The property had a single-story house surrounded by shipping containers.
On one side a black wooden deck and outdoor spa hid the doors to an underground bunker.
Inside was a hydroponic system with chemicals, fans, lighting, power cords and water supply to 225 cannabis plants.
Police also found a rifle, swords, flick knives and batons at the property.
A man and a woman have been sentenced after locking an eight-year-old boy in a shipping container
On one side a black wooden deck and outdoor spa hid the doors to an underground bunker
The young boy was locked in the container daily, denied food and a place to go to the toilet. He was beaten a number of times.
The other children, aged eighteen months, three and 10, on the Elands cannabis farm were occasionally allowed to see him.
For a period the children had access to the hydroponic setup and helped set up the crop.
Inside was a hydroponic system with chemicals, fans, lighting, power cords and water supply to 225 cannabis plants
Police raided the property, north-west of Taree, in December 2015 on suspicions of cannabis production, when they chanced on the detained child
A 30-year-old man, the partner of the child’s mother, was charged on April 27.
He was sentenced to a maximum of six and a half years in prison with a non-parole period of four years.
The child’s mother received three years and five months, with a non-parole period of two years and five months. She will soon be eligible for parole.
Her brother was sentenced to two years and three months with a minimum period of two years.