The Cavalry: they squat a house in the absence of the owners

This squat case was judged on Wednesday at the Rodez court. Press Center – José A. Torres

Eight months of adjustable prison and 140 hours of community service: these are the sentences handed down by the Rodez court this Wednesday against two thirty-year-olds guilty of having " squatted" a house in the absence of the owners, at the end of last August in La Cavalerie.

Eight months of adjustable prison and 140 hours of community service: these are the sentences handed down by the Rodez court against two thirty-year-olds guilty of having "squatted" a house in the absence of the owners. The events date back to the end of last August and took place at La Cavalerie.

Only one of the defendants took the stand. If today he occupies a studio in the southern Aveyron commune, he declared himself as "without a fixed address" at the material time."I didn’have nowhere to sleep, someone told me about this house and I broke a window with a log to get in" , he explains, saying "sorry". It was August 26. A few days later, a neighbor raised the alarm. He saw movement in the property and, above all, the garden is filled with trash…

Several stolen items

With his friend, absent from the hearing and already well known to the justice system (10 records, several for drugs), they were quickly found by the investigators, the fault of cigarette butts left on site. And in addition to the damage within the property, several thefts of objects were noted: a computer, a vacuum cleaner, bottles of alcohol. "No, I ;rsquo;was only there to sleep", assures the defendant, originally from Naucelle, blaming other people, who came to spend an evening in the house from Millau…

"He was homeless, without a job, he didn’do this with joy of heart. He was going there to sleep, not to trash, pleaded his council. Before the court asked him if he was ready to carry out community service, despite the fact that he had found work in a cheese factory for several weeks. He accepted. And will thus have to complete 140 hours for the benefit of the company, or four weeks.

His accomplice, absent from the debates, will have to wait for him to see if an adjustment to his eight-month sentence is possible… Not to mention that the court also revoked one of his old sentences, of four months. They will also have to pay 726 € compensation to the owners of the house "squatted".

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