A total sentence of ten months in jail, suspended for three years, was imposed by the Autophore Single-Member Plenary Court Thessaloniki on a man who broke in and stayed for a week in the house he lost at an auction.

The incident occurred on January 11 when the new owner of the property was informed by his son that the front door of the home had been broken into and an unknown man was inside. In turn, the owner notified police who arrived at the home and arrested the accused.

As the victim testified, he purchased the property at auction in July and took full possession in December. The former owner managed to get into it by breaking the lock of the main entrance using a drill while sleeping there for a total of seven nights until the legal owner realized what had happened and contacted the police.

“He had a paper saying to postpone the auction and two knives in his possession,” the witness testified, adding that the cost for the lock that was picked was 160 euros.

For his part, the accused said in his plea that he went to his former house in order to get some things and did not clearly answer the court’s question about why he stayed there for a week. “I put my own lock, I wanted to get it back because it was taken from me illegally,” he claimed.

In addition to the prison sentence, the court also imposed a fine of 500 euros on the accused.