An alleged opal thief sent to drug rehab has had his bail conditions relaxed to allow him to go to a Christmas party at Jamberoo today.
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Lachlan Alcock was arrested on May 11 and remanded in custody over his alleged involvement in an armed home invasion at Albion Park in the early hours of February 10 this year in which four men stole $500,000 worth of opals.
Alcock, who denies the allegations and plans to take the charges to trial, was granted strict conditional bail last month to attend the Oolong House drug treatment program after two Wollongong judicial officers accepted he needed intensive, professional help with his ice and heroin addictions.
At the time, Oolong House said Alcock would not be allowed to leave the facility for the duration of the four month course, prompting Magistrate Claire Girotto to impose a bail condition prohibiting Alcock from entering the Illawarra unless for legal appointments.
However, in court on Wednesday, defence lawyer Anthony Stewart applied to change that bail condition on Alcock's behalf, saying part of his rehabilitation involved him being given unsupervised day release on weekends to spend time with family.
The court heard the first event on the calendar was an Oolong House Christmas Party in Jamberoo scheduled for today, however that would be a "supervised function", Alcock's case manager, Casey Ardler, confirmed.
Ms Ardler said Alcock had been in the program for a month with no behavioural issues to report.
She said Alcock having access to his family was "vital" for his recovery from addiction.
"Family is an important resource when it comes to recovery and healing journeys," she said.
Ms Ardler confirmed Oolong House would carry out checks on the addresses Alcock nominated for his day leave and said if Alcock breached any of his bail conditions the organisation was obligated to alert authorities.
Prosecutor Tanya Collison opposed the application to change the bail, claiming Alcock presented an unacceptable risk to community safety if he was in the Illawarra without supervision.
"The case is overwhelming - he's likely to face a lengthy custodial sentence if convicted, we are opposed to any unsupervised leave," she said.
Magistrate Claire Girotto agreed to relax the bail condition to allow Alcock to attend the Jamberoo gathering, then see his family on Christmas Day, however she delayed the unsupervised day release until late January, saying she wanted Alcock to have completed at least two months in the program before he was allowed back into the region without monitoring.
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