Gardai are seeking a "serial squatter" said to have seriously damaged a £200,000 Dublin apartment he was ordered by a judge to quit.
Garda Wayne Kelly told Dublin Circuit Civil Court that a lot of damage had been done to the city-centre apartment in Marlborough Court before he and colleagues arrived at 6.20 a.m. yesterday to detain the occupier, Mr Mark Keegan Reynolds. He told Judge John Buckley that Mr Reynolds was not at home. When gardai gained entry the place was "like a sauna".
"The heating and everything that could be switched on had been switched on in the empty apartment", Garda Kelly told Mr Conor Bowman, counsel for landlord, Mr Fahmy Henien.
He said flour and sugar had been scattered all over the apartment and holes had been kicked and punched in the walls. Presses had been wrenched from the walls and shelves damaged.
Mr Bowman said Mr Reynolds had been served with an order of attachment to appear before the court yesterday morning, having failed to obey a court order to vacate the apartment. He told the court that Mr Reynolds was a "serial squatter" who preyed on landlords.
Judge Buckley ordered that Mr Reynolds be imprisoned for a month and issued a warrant for his arrest.