A mentally ill Phillip man has moved out of his apartment because he fears repercussions for reporting an alleged burglar, who is accused of using his unit to store stolen goods, a court has heard.
Adam Lucas, 43, faced the ACT Magistrates Court on Saturday morning in relation to the alleged "cuckooing", which occurs when a criminal uses a vulnerable person's home for illicit activities.
Lucas did not enter pleas to five burglary charges, or single counts of possessing stolen property and using a carriage service to menace, harass or cause offence.
Opposing bail, prosecutor Hannah Lee told the court Lucas was accused of "repeated hits" on storage cages at a Phillip unit complex.
She tendered police documents, which outline four instances in which residents reported thefts from underground storage areas in August.
There was also an occasion in June, when a resident noticed several items, including a $650 keyboard, had gone missing from his cage.
The day after making this discovery, police say he spotted the keyboard being advertised for sale on Gumtree.
The man contacted the seller, "Alex", and arranged to meet him at an apartment in the same complex to inspect the keyboard.
The man attended the meeting with a friend, who recorded it on his phone and later gave police a copy of the footage he had captured.
According to police, the video shows the man challenging the seller, who was in fact Lucas, to give back other items stolen from his cage.
Lucas can allegedly be seen going into a spare room and returning with these things, which he ultimately gave back to the rightful owner.
The owner of those items later attended Woden Police Station and told officers he had received a phone call from the father of a man who lived in the unit where the confrontation occurred.
He said the father had told him this man was mentally ill, and "the other guy living with him" - Lucas - was the one selling stolen goods.
The mentally ill resident also visited the station, with a National Disability Insurance Scheme support worker, earlier this month.
He told police Lucas had befriended him roughly six months earlier and started staying at his unit, where the 43-year-old had eventually begun storing goods stolen "from downstairs".
This man said he was extremely frightened of Lucas, who had threatened him to "bash" or "stab" him if he did not act as a lookout while the defendant was "raiding the storage units" in the car park.
He added that he had asked Lucas at least five times to stop stealing from the storage cages, only to be told: "Nothing's going to happen. Don't be a sook."
The man also said he had thrown away some of the things Lucas stole, prompting the 43-year-old to angrily complain he "could've made so much money" from the discarded items.
During his interview with police, the mentally ill man played officers voice messages he had received from Lucas earlier in the day.
"Answer your phone, you f---en stupid c---," Lucas aggressively said in one of them.
The man later allowed police to search his apartment, where officers claim to have found a large array of stolen property.
Investigating officers subsequently raided Lucas' usual home, also in Phillip, seizing more suspected stolen goods, tools and clothing.
They also spoke to a man there, who said Lucas had admitted going to Cash Converters to sell goods stolen from storage cages.
An employee of that business later provided police with a record of all items sold or given to its Phillip store by the 43-year-old.
Ms Lee argued on Saturday that Lucas, who was arrested the previous night, was likely to commit offences, interfere with evidence and intimidate witnesses if released from custody.
She told the court the mentally ill man had "already moved home because of his fear of repercussions from the defendant".
Magistrate Jane Campbell ultimately granted Lucas bail, imposing conditions that included a ban on him contacting the mentally ill man.
Lucas, who described the bail decision as "awesome", is due back in court on October 21.
