28-year-old Greek man arrested for breaking into house to smell shoes

In an unusual case in Greece, a 28-year-old man was sentenced to a month in prison and ordered to undergo therapy for his peculiar behavior – sneaking into his neighbor’s house to smell his shoes. According to a report from the New York Post, the man, who lives in Thessaloniki, showed signs of what is commonly called a foot fetish. This is a condition in which a person derives a form of pleasure or excitement from their feet or shoes. His behavior, although seemingly harmless, alarmed his neighbors and ended up getting him into legal trouble.

The incident that led to his arrest occurred on October 8 in Sindos, a city in northern Greece. That morning, the man was caught by neighbors smelling shoes that had been left outside the house to air out. Although his actions may seem bizarre, they were not entirely new to his neighbors. This was the third time in six months that he had been caught in this strange behavior. Each time, instead of breaking in to steal or cause damage, the man entered homes for the sole purpose of smelling shoes, leaving neighbors confused and worried.

Despite these incidents, neighbors mentioned that the man never demonstrated any violent or harmful tendencies towards them. However, their repeated behavior became a problem, leading them to involve the authorities after attempts to get their family to intervene were unsuccessful. His family reportedly was aware of his strange habit but apparently could not stop him from indulging in it.

When the case went to court, the man openly admitted that he didn’t fully understand why he was attracted to shoes in this way. He expressed that this compulsive behavior caused him embarrassment on many occasions and that he had no intention of harming anyone. His fetish, classified as a psychological condition in which someone is intensely attracted to feet or foot-related objects, has become a problem beyond his control. The Thessaloniki court still found it necessary to impose a prison sentence and mandatory therapy.