Landlord who tied up tenant's sons jailed

A landlord who broke into the house of a tenant four months behind on the rent and tied up his two sons was jailed by a French court Monday.

AIX-EN-PROVENCE, December 14, 2009 (AFP) - A landlord who broke into the house of a tenant four months behind on the rent and tied up his two sons, one of whom was a minor, was jailed by a French court Monday.

The court, in Aix-en-Provence in southern France, convicted Pascal Terpend-Ordassiere, 56, and his accomplice, 36-year-old ex-marine Sebastien Chobert, of trespassing and illegal confinement.

Both received two-years jail sentences, of which one year was suspended.

On October 17, wearing masks and with Terpend carrying fake gun, the men broke into a villa rented by the Michiel family, who had failed to pay their rent for four months.

The family dog, a rottweiler, had already been drugged.

Pascal Michiel, his wife and the couple's daughter were not at home at the time, but their two sons, aged 13 and 23, were alone in the house.

Chobert admitted having struck the older of the two sons, before leaving the pair gagged, bound and wrapped up together in a blanket.

Terpend than began throwing out the family's possessions.

They only released the two sons when their mother returned to the house.

The defendants were ordered to pay each of the two captives 4,000 euros (5,860 dollars) damages and 1,000 euros to the mother.

The two men were acquitted of robbery.