A man who attempted to burgle a house before falling asleep drunk on his victim’s kitchen floor was sentenced to three and a half years in jail on Wednesday.

The man, named as Fetruz Matrasulov, entered his former boss’ garden shed in Yerolakkos in the north at around 6pm on September 19 last year and proceeded to drink a whole bottle of Efe Gold raki.

Then, he picked up a bread knife from inside the shed and used it to break into the house via its back door, before stealing a mobile phone. He then fell asleep on the kitchen floor.

He was later found by his former boss, who called the police. They arrested him at the scene and took both the bread knife and the mobile phone as evidence.

Presiding judge Fusun Cemaller explained in court that Matrasulov had admitted to having entered the same house on prior occasions, and that in an unrelated incident, he had stolen a vacuum cleaner and sold it to a person in Nicosia.

She added that within the scope of the investigation, police discovered that Matrasulov had been staying in the north without a residence permit for almost six months.

She said that thefts “are becoming increasingly common and disturbing the peace of society”.

She, along with the two other judges on the panel, unanimously sentenced Matrasulov to three and a half years in prison.