Two men who had shared the privacy of the same house for several months faced each other last Thursday at the Caen judicial court, in Calvados.
As Ouest-France reported on Sunday, a 34-year-old tenant was sentenced to ten months in prison, six of which were suspended, for having made life difficult last year for the retiree who hosted him.
The latter has since claimed to suffer from depression.
Threats, thefts, slamming doors, deafening music and the persistent smell of cannabis... the thirty-year-old continued to harass his landlord and disrupt the lives of the other tenants, indicates the site Actu.fr, which also attended the hearing.
“He lets everyone know that he is the king,” the latter allegedly complained, claiming to have heard insults repeatedly coming from the mouth of the thirty-year-old.
Forced to drop off his tenant at 6 a.m. at work
However, everything started well between the two men.
The tenant had found this small room to rent in a private home in Bénouville, just a few kilometers from the Normandy coast, on the Internet.
The retiree told the hearing that the first three months, between February and April 2023, took place without too much trouble.
Then, the climate deteriorated.
The thirty-year-old started stealing food from his fridge as well as his belongings, slamming the doors of the house, dragging out his showers…
He also started to become very insistent, demanding that the owner accompany him to work at 6 a.m., offer him bread and croissants and take him shopping.
There were also regular requests for money loans, while the tenant accumulated unpaid rent.
All accompanied by regular threats, report Ouest-France and Actu.fr.
“He became insulting, threatened to end everything in the house”
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When I refused, he became insulting, threatened to stop everything in the house, banged his fist against his hand very close to my face or made big karate movements,” the victim, who filed a complaint, described on the stand. last October.
According to him, his tenant, having learned of this deposit, put pressure on him to remove it, going so far as to call the police.
For his part, at the Caen court, the accused tenant, who has already been convicted twice for violence - including incarceration after attacking a vulnerable person -, only mentions a "misunderstanding" and assures that he “had no grudge against him”.
After the prosecutor's indictment, who castigated "tyrannical behavior with a total absence of empathy", the tenant was also sentenced to an obligation of psychological care.
He must no longer contact his former owner, to whom he must also pay 2,500 euros in damages for these months of shared accommodation, which were stormy to say the least.