A HOMELESS man who squatted in an apartment over Christmas to escape the freezing weather was jailed for six months yesterday.
Robert Lewandowski (29) used keys he had stolen weeks earlier to move into the south Belfast flat once a woman who lived there left for the holiday period.
He was said to have taken nothing during a four-day stay when he used a stove, watched television and cleaned up after himself.
Lewandowski, a Polish national, pleaded guilty to theft and wrongfully taking possession of the property at Tates Avenue between December 24th and 28th.
Belfast Magistrates Court heard he had been sleeping in apartment block communal areas after losing his home and his job with a recycling charity earlier this year.
He stole the keys after spotting the door to the flat lying open and entered following a party on December 5th.
A lawyer for Lewandowski, of no fixed address, said he had left the property exactly as he found it.
He told the court that when the woman and her partner returned to find him there, the defendant did not try to leave.
The solicitor said his client was apologetic, but had only gone in on Christmas Eve when temperatures were down to -10.
“He let himself in to keep out of the cold. For four days he used the TV and stove to heat some food,” he said.
The court was told that the woman and police were both sympathetic to Lewandowski’s plight.
“He didn’t take anything and he had four days and ample opportunity to effectively clean the place out,” the solicitor added.
However, after Lewandowski waived his right to a pre-sentence report, District Judge Ken Nixon said his theft and wrongful entry was without justification.
He imposed concurrent six-month jail terms for each of the two offences.
Judge Nixon also agreed to fix bail pending a planned appeal, although Lewandowski was not released due to having no suitable address.