Greek man convicted for sneaking onto neighbors’ properties to smell their shoes

A man in Greece was given a suspended one-month prison sentence after his conviction for disturbing his neighbors by repeatedly sneaking onto their properties and smelling their shoes.

Addressing the court in the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki on Thursday, the 28-year-old man said he was unable to explain why he entered his neighbors' homes to get a whiff of their shoes and said he was embarrassed by his behavior.

He said he had no intention of breaking the law or harming anyone during the incidents, according to the Associated Press.

The defendant's neighbors also testified that he never displayed any sign of aggression when he visited during the night.

The man was ordered by the judge to attend therapy sessions.

Shortly before dawn on Oct. 8, the man was arrested in the small town of Sindos after police were called to a home by a neighbor who found the man in his front yard sniffing his family’s shoes that had been left outside to air out.

At least three similar incidents have happened in the past six months, even after neighbors asked the man's family to make him stop entering their property to sniff their shoes.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.