Sydney couple returns from holiday to find stranger living in their home, wearing their clothes and using their bank card

A university student has been left stunned after returning from holiday to find a half-naked guy living in her apartment, using her belongings, spending on her bank card, and leaving the place a mess.

Denoora Lyu, a 22-year-old student from the University of Sydney, made the shocking discovery on February 17 after opening the door to her apartment in Pyrmont, an inner-city suburb of Sydney.

WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Stranger breaks in apartment and makes himself at home.

Dylan Patrick Yelkovan, 30, was found shirtless inside the two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment, with belongings strewn across the sofa, desk, and kitchen counter.

He showed no surprise and didn’t even try to run when Lyu and her boyfriend, William Qu, walked in.

“I thought I’d gone to the wrong place at first,” Lyu told 7NEWS.com.au.

But when she realised she was definitely in the right apartment, panic set in.

“I felt really shaken. There was a complete stranger standing in my home, and he wasn’t even wearing a shirt. It just didn’t seem normal,” she said.

“I kept thinking, what if he had a knife? I was scared of what he might do.”

When confronted, Yelkovan calmly packed his things into a backpack, moving in and out of rooms with ease as he got dressed, acting like the place was his own.

He eventually left the apartment via the balcony, which Lyu suspects was how he originally got in.

With help from the building manager, Yelkovan was arrested and taken into custody ahead of his court hearing.

‘Everything has been used’

The Pyrmont unit was meant to be the couple’s temporary home while their friend — whose name was on the lease — was also overseas for the school holidays.

Before heading away, Lyu and Qu packed their belongings neatly into boxes and stored them in the apartment, planning to use the place briefly while searching for their own home for the new semester.

But their plans were disrupted when they returned to find the boxes rummaged through, and Yelkovan had helped himself to almost everything.

“He unpacked every single box and used everything inside, including the desktop computer, which hadn’t even been set up at the time,” Lyu said on Friday, adding that the browsing history showed he used the computer to listen to music.

“He pulled out all the spare phones that weren’t in use but couldn’t access them due to passwords.”

The couple also found that Yelkovan had worn Qu’s clothes, some of which were stained with faeces.

While the toilet was left unflushed, Yelkovan turned their wine decanter into a flower vase, placing a flower he’d picked from the street inside.

Yelkovan even used Qu’s bank card, with transaction records suggesting he had been staying in the apartment for about a week.

Even though the bank eventually refunded the stolen money, the couple had to throw out nearly everything Yelkovan had touched.

They also had to spend a week in a hotel while the apartment was professionally cleaned, which cost them about $2000, and no one is going to cover that expense.

Lyu said she never expected something like this to happen to her.

“I’ve seen stories about break-ins like this before, but when it actually happens to you, it’s still really shocking,” she said.

Alarming criminal history

Lyu’s unease resurfaced in May when she spotted Yelkovan in Sydney’s CBD, expecting him to instead be in custody.

NSW Police told 7NEWS.com.au on Friday that Yelkovan remained in custody until his court hearing at the Sydney Downing Centre on April 1.

Court records show Yelkovan pleaded guilty and was sentenced to nine months’ imprisonment, to be served as an Intensive Correction Order (ICO) for the break-in, running until December 31.

This means he avoided jail but is subject to strict supervision, including drug abstinence and restrictions on visiting certain locations, including the Pyrmont apartment.

On the same day, he also faced separate charges including driving without consent, reckless driving, breaching a domestic violence restraining order, and multiple counts of obtaining financial advantage by deception.

He pleaded guilty to these charges as well, with the related ICO running until March 31 next year, under similar conditions of supervision and good behaviour.