A man who stored his own excrement in an apartment for months, causing €15,000 worth of damage, has been jailed for a year.

The court heard the smell and the damage was so severe that the owner of the Cork city centre apartment had to remove the flooring and replace all the contents.

German national, Robert Kummer, 36, was sentenced at Cork Circuit Criminal Court in a case which Judge Seán Ó Donnabháin described as most unusual and very bizarre.

The manner of causing the damage was by fouling the property to an extraordinary extent over a prolonged period.

Graphic evidence was given by the guard and it was adjourned for the accused to gather compensation for the €15,000 damage but only a figure of €800 was paid and nothing further has been forthcoming.

"I have a psychiatric report which is long but not very helpful, which is no reflection on the psychiatrist

(Kummer) may have suffered a depressive episode," the judge said, adding that Kummer’s behaviour seemed to be as much of a mystery to the psychiatrist as to anyone else.

Kummer who failed to compensate the owner for anything more than €800 was jailed for one year yesterday on the count that between June 1 2013 and September 24 2013 at an apartment at The Quay House, Fitton Street East, Cork, he intentionally or recklessly caused criminal damage to the property.

He later moved to an apartment at Lancaster Gate, Western Road, until February 25 2015.

Kummer had failed to appear in court on a previous occasion and a bench warrant had to be issued for his arrest last week.

Garda Lorraine O’Donovan went to the apartment at Fitton Street on September 24 2013 as a result of a call and she met the landlord there.

Residents of neighbouring apartments were complaining about the smell from Kummer’s apartment.

As Garda O’Donovan discussed this with the landlord, the accused man happened to be approaching and she spoke with him. Initially, he claimed he had been away in America and had only recently returned.

"On opening the front door the most bizarre and unbelievable conditions were observed. There was clothing everywhere and bags of excrement. I could see excrement all over the bedroom and there were bottles of yellow substance," Garda O’Donovan said.

Regarding the yellow substance, Judge Ó Donnabháin said: “It might be better if I use my imagination.”

Fire officers were contacted because of the extent of the fouling and damage other gardaí were notified in case it was the scene of a crime other than the criminal damage. This was ruled out.

Questioned about it, Kummer told Garda O’Donovan that he had stopped caring after his mother became very ill with cancer in Germany.

Kummer only attended to personal hygiene by showering each day in his workplace before starting a day’s work, and taking his clothes to a laundry.

Otherwise he had been living in the conditions encountered by Garda O’Donovan when she inspected the flat two over years ago.