Pleasant Point woman, 58, sentenced over 500g cannabis grow
Sindee Jane Beecroft, a 58-year-old woman from Pleasant Point, near Timaru, was sentenced in the Timaru District Court after police found 500g of dried cannabis bud when they searched her property. Judge Maurice Casey told her the evidence showed she was not just a casual cannabis user.
🇳🇿 Pleasant Point, Timaru District, Canterbury · New Zealand
A long-time cannabis user who became a small-scale dealer assured a judge in the
Timaru District Court that she was never going to offend again.[1]The
defendant, a 58-year-old woman from Pleasant Point, near Timaru, was told by
Judge Maurice Casey that the evidence told him she was not just a casual
cannabis user.[1]Judge Casey said there was an aspect of growing and that it
was not just for her own use.[1]
Police found 500g of dried cannabis bud when they searched the Pleasant Point
property where the 58-year-old woman lived.[1]
Two other charges, supplying and procuring meth, were alleged to have occurred
in October and November 2025.[2]
The sentencing report gives the hearing day only as 'Friday'; 6 November 2026, the Friday before publication, is used as the incident date.
The sentencing report's fuller body, including the six months of community detention and six months of supervision imposed, is behind a paywall and could not be captured for quotation checking.
The sentencing report states 20 cannabis seedlings were growing in the bedroom, but the paywalled body could not be verified against a captured text, so no plant count is recorded in figures.
No street value for the 500g of cannabis bud was published.
The sentencing report does not list which charges Beecroft pleaded guilty to, or the outcome of the two methamphetamine supply charges reported in January.
No appeal, or failure to appeal, has been reported.
The account rests on one outlet's reporting in The Press and The Timaru Herald by the same journalist, and the full sentencing notes were not published.
The January 2026 court report gave Beecroft's age as 57 while the sentencing report gave 58; the report uses 58.
Left out, as its quotation was not found in The Press: Sindee Jane Beecroft faced five charges dated January 14, 2026: possessing meth, possessing a meth pipe, cultivating cannabis, possessing cannabis, and failing to assist police in a computer search.
Left out, as its quotation was not found in The Press: Beecroft elected trial by jury and was remanded on bail by Judge Campbell Savage to a case review hearing on April 14.
Left out charged, as its quotation was not found in The Press.
Christchurch District Court Judge Quentin Hix sentenced 54-year-old Damon Redshaw without prison after police found 234 grams of cannabis in his crashed vehicle, along with a sawn-off .22 rifle, ammunition and a methamphetamine vape.
Judge Mark Williams sentenced Jade-Cooper Mackenzie in the Invercargill District Court on cannabis dealing and other drug and assault charges, rejecting his claim that he sold only to fund his own addiction. Mackenzie had handled 16kg of cannabis, held $35,000 in cash and had two people working for him.
Ruben Flutey, 34, was sentenced to 10 years and five months in prison at the Wellington District Court after being convicted on 18 charges, including supplying methamphetamine, cannabis, ecstasy and ketamine. Police seized nearly $200,000 of assets including drugs, cash, a classic car, motorbikes and jet skis, and four more associates were due to be sentenced in November and December.
Arrested 1Charged 1Prison 10 years and five months
A young man was convicted in the Cook Islands criminal High Court on 26 February 2026 for possessing 0.20 grams of cannabis, after hiring a lawyer, gathering character references and attending a men's counselling centre. A letter to Cook Islands News argued the amount was below the 250-milligram THC threshold in the Narcotics and Misuse of Drugs Act 2004.
