Alleged gun theft: Melissa Smith granted bail in Ballarat Magistrates' Court

Melissa Smith, 31, applied for bail at the Ballarat Magistrates' Court on charges including the aggravated burglary of firearms and theft.

Smith, who is a mother of two, lives in Boronia, but had been incarcerated for the past 71 days.

According to a police witness, during the early hours of April 30, 2023, Smith and the co-accused allegedly raided the garage of a home in Sturt Street, where they allegedly stole a shotgun and five rifles.

Allegedly, Smith and the co-accused were caught on CCTV at 4.35am on April 30 accessing a ground floor garage from an alleyway behind Sturt Street in Ballarat Central, which had a residence above it.

Approximately 10-minutes later, the pair were allegedly caught on CCTV exiting the victim's garage while carrying the six weapons between them, which they took to an address in Sebastopol.

Later in the morning, the victim found six guns had been taken from their firearms safe, and the doors of their Mercedes sedan had been opened.

After contacting police, a forensic examination of the crime scene was made, where a fingerprint allegedly matching Smith was found on the car door.

On May 1, 2023, Smith and the co-accused boarded a Ballarat bus while carrying the allegedly stolen firearms, where they were captured on the vehicles CCTV.

About 4.40pm, the pair were apprehended by police at Ballarat Railway Station, where they were found with a bag allegedly containing the six firearms, as well as a large amount of other stolen property, including keys, sunglasses, clothes with security tags attached and bank cards.

The bank cards were allegedly stolen from a car on Grant Street in Sebastopol, and the victim told police unknown transactions had been charged to the card from May 29.

Police alleged the bag also contained $3900 worth of stolen property from a handbag store and $1900 of clothing taken from Rebel Sport.

At the time of the offence, Smith was on bail for a previous alleged theft from Croydon Aldi in December 2022.

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A police prosecutor told the court they opposed the young mother's bail application, as she was considered a threat to the community, and because of her history, was an unacceptable risk of committing further offences.

Defence counsel for Smith argued she should be released so she could care for her two children, and so she could access mental health programs.

Smith's father, a retired bricklayer, guaranteed the bail for $10,000.

Magistrate Simon Zebrowski said there was a "good argument" not to give Smith bail, but because she had two young children and the support of her father, he granted the 31-year-old's release under strict conditions.

These including a curfew, thrice weekly reports to her local police station, compliance with court programs and to have no contact with the co-accused.

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