Justin Blake Smith was shot in the leg and hand, so he could no longer use the ladder leading to a cannabis crop beneath his North Albury home.
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But this no longer mattered, for when the police and paramedics were called after the shooting his drug offending was exposed.
Police doing a routine sweep of the house in the wake of the shooting back in January found a trap door in the floor of his second bedroom.
Until then, Smith had been able to keep his cannabis crop a secret, at least from the authorities.
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It all led to him pleading guilty in Albury Local Court this week over several matters, including ones relating to cultivating cannabis, a possess prohibited weapon charge over a crossbow and receiving stolen goods over a motorcycle found in his garage.
Police also found seven suspected-stolen bicycles underneath the house, near the growing room.
These included a $7500 racing machine pinched from the Albury Central Fire Brigade in Mate Street, North Albury, last August and $4000 and $1000 mountain bikes from outside Lavington Square shopping centre, in March and April last year.
For that he was charged with having goods in custody.
Magistrate Rodney Brender was told in a Director of Public Prosecutions rundown of the offending that Smith and his partner lived rent-free in the Hicks Place house, which was owned by his mother.
The garage was underneath.
Smith had a dispute with two men inside the house on January 5 about 7.40pm.
One of them pulled out a pistol and fired at Smith, wounding his left hand and thigh.
The two men were later charged over the shooting.
Police arrived and noticed the house was "well-fortified" with CCTV cameras.
They then found the open trap door, leading to a "grow tent" covering most of the room and in which there were two small cannabis plants.
There was also plastic sheeting hung close by, creating two purpose-built rooms.
This contained 47 plants ranging in size from 50 to 90 centimetres, growing in large pots, along with LED lighting and other cultivation technology, powered by electricity illegally re-routed to bypass the meter box.
The motorbike was stolen from Knight Street, North Albury, in mid-November.
Smith will remain in custody for sentencing at a later date.
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