Homeless man imprisoned for ‘seeking shelter’ and drinking champagne

Friday 18 December 2020

A man has been sent to jail this Christmas for trespassing and drinking a £1,000 bottle of champagne that wasn't his.

Janis Zalitis, 29, was homeless at the time of the offence and defended his actions by saying he was simply looking for shelter on a rainy night.

On 3 November, Zalitis entered an unoccupied property in St Peter Port. The house was being sold at the time and the owners were in the UK.

While in the property Zalitis slept in the owner’s bed, opened various bottles of alcohol, and started to drink a nine litre bottle of champagne worth £929. He also spilled Campari on the carpet and left cigarette butts on the floor.

He only stayed the one night. The incident was discovered by a surveyor who had brought potential buyers into the property the next day.

Zalitis was arrested on 8 November after his debit card and jacket were found left behind.

Pictured: “I reject that you used it [the house] for shelter. You smoked, you drank, it was a selfish act”, said Judge Gary Perry.

In his defence. Advocate Chris Green said it couldn't be considered forced entry because a downstairs door was unlocked. He said Zalitis was only looking for shelter in the rain and had since publicly apologised to the owners.

Zalitis had originally been bailed for sentencing, but hadn’t turned up to court on 7 December. He was therefore also charged for failing to comply with bail.

He has been unable to pay back all of the £1,004 in compensation – the price of the alcohol and the cost to clean the carpet - and so has also had 20 days added to his prison sentence.

In total, Zalitis was sentenced to seven months for burglary and one month for damages to property, both to run concurrently. 

He also had one month concurrent added for not surrendering to bail. With the 20 extra days for failure to pay compensation, he was sentenced to a total of seven months 20 days from 17 December.

“Whatever the difficulty of your personal circumstances you cannot commit acts that cause stress to people in our community,” said Judge Gary Perry during his sentencing remarks.

Pictured top: Zalitis has never served a custodial sentence before.