But about three weeks before police arrived with a warrant to search for drugs, and a few weeks after officers had turned up to check on the child's welfare after reports he had been missing school, he allegedly again became a virtual prisoner in his own family home. Still from Channel 7 video showing a shed on the property. Credit:Channel 7 He was allegedly left for days with only some muesli bars and chips for food, and no water, and had to endure soaring temperatures and frightening lightning storms at the property his family are alleged to have bought to start a large cannabis-growing operation. The allegations have not just shocked and disgusted the small town of Elands, where the family had moved to the five-hectare property in March from North Gosford after buying it for $420,000; it has also reverberated inside Kempsey jail, where the 28-year-old stepfather charged over the treatment of the boy was bashed by other inmates on Christmas Eve. He escaped with just some bruises and cuts, and has been moved to protective custody.

But it illustrates the anger across the community, including the 400 people who call the mid-north-coast town of Elands home. The trapdoor entrance to the buried shipping containers that allegedly stored 225 cannabis plants. A neighbour of the family, who did not wish to be named, said the town had been attractive to hippies and alternative lifestylers before the "more outrageous people" started moving in a few years ago. "You get all types up here these days, and these guys seemed normal enough. Normal enough for here anyway," he said. Cannabis plants allegedly found by police in a property north-west of Taree, NSW.

The boy moved onto the property with an extended family, including three other siblings, their mother, her partner, the mother's brother and several other adults. They had kept to themselves, with neighbours reporting that the children seemed happy when they saw they heading to and from school. The Elands property where police allegedly found the boy locked in a shed. The partially moved deck reveals the trapdoor leading to three buried shipping containers where a large hydroponic cannabis set up was allegedly discovered. But they reported rarely seeing the eight-year-old walk up the 200 metres up the dirt track to the front gate to get the bus. The family did not remain under the radar of authorities for long after moving to the property.

Some of the cannabis plants allegedly discovered at the property. By July, police were called to help Telstra technicians get onto the site after the family repeatedly refused them entry. The standoff was settled and police left. By October, another woman living on the property turned up at Manning Base Hospital at Taree with injuries. She refused to give a statement but police again investigated, especially after it was revealed that children were also on the property.

And it was this incident, together with concerns about the eight-year-old's welfare after he missed a lot of school, which prompted a return visit by general duties police in November. The two officers opened the isolated steel gate to the property not knowing what they would find. Secrets are easily hidden within the rolling hills and lonely dirt tracks surrounding the town. Their brief was to check on the eight-year-old boy who had been missing from school. It was the classic concern for welfare call. But they found nothing alarming.

However, what did spark some interest were the shipping containers and earthmoving equipment which littered some of the property. They suspected some of the residents were preparing to start growing drugs. But the officers retreated and started to gather evidence. When they thought they had enough, they went to the area's top detective, Manning-Great Lakes crime manager Detective Inspector Peter McKenna, with their suspicions. A search warrant was applied for and granted.

On December 17, they launched. But when they arrived, some of the shipping containers were gone. As they worked to "clear" the site, where specialist and heavily-armed police quickly and efficiently go through the property to eliminate any threats, a much more horrific discovery was made. In the back of a corrugated iron shed, and with a lock on the outside, was the tiny room not bigger than two square metres which has now become the centre of the child-neglect case. Inside, was the malnourished eight-year-old boy the police had checked on just a month before.

He was to tell them he had spent more than three weeks inside the uninsulated room. The discovery shook even the hardest detectives, and the boy and his three siblings, aged between 12 months and nine years, were taken into the care of the Department of Family and Community Services. But they were also there for drugs, and it was becoming increasingly frustrating that they could find no evidence of it. Even the residents were telling them they were wasting their time, as a few officers walked along a deck boasting a spa and some furniture. One of the officers spied a switch, his curiosity getting the better of him.

And it was the noise which got them first. According to police, the humming of the hydraulics kicked in as the deck started rolling away, the officers still standing on it, to reveal the trapdoors to one of the most elaborate hydroponic cannabis set-ups seen by police. The glee which overcame the officers was only tempered by the drooping of shoulders of at least one of the residents. Two men, aged 28 and 19, and the 26-year-old mother of the boy have been charged with cultivating a large commercial quantity of cannabis. The 28-year-old and the woman were also charged with detaining a person with intent for financial advantage.

But although the elaborate nature of the set-up was a sight to behold, the quality of the cannabis was not. It will be alleged that this was the first large commercial quantity of cannabis grown by these people. And the quality of plants suggested to experienced officers that they needed the practice.