She returned from holiday to find a stranger living in her flat—what comes next was even more disturbing
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Coming home from holidays should be a relaxing return to routine—but for one university student, it was anything but.
What she walked into was so unexpected, it left her shaken and questioning how it could have happened in the first place.
What followed was a disturbing discovery that has since raised serious concerns about safety, privacy, and justice.
Coming home from holidays should be a relaxing return to routine—but for one university student, it was anything but.
What she walked into was so unexpected, it left her shaken and questioning how it could have happened in the first place.
What followed was a disturbing discovery that has since raised serious concerns about safety, privacy, and justice.
Denoora Lyu, a 22-year-old University of Sydney student, returned to her Pyrmont apartment on 17 February to find a stranger inside.
She was accompanied by her boyfriend, William Qu, when they opened the door to what was meant to be their temporary home.
Instead, they found 30-year-old Dylan Patrick Yelkovan shirtless and surrounded by their belongings.
‘I thought I’d gone to the wrong place at first,’ Lyu shared.
Yelkovan showed no signs of panic or shame and didn’t attempt to flee.
‘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.’
Yelkovan reportedly moved through the two-bedroom apartment casually, packing his things into a backpack while getting dressed.
Lyu and Qu watched as he calmly walked in and out of the rooms like he belonged there.
He eventually exited the unit via the balcony, which Lyu believed was the same way he got in.
With the assistance of the building manager, Yelkovan was later arrested.
Lyu said the incident still didn’t feel real.
‘I’ve seen stories about break-ins like this before, but when it actually happens to you, it’s still really shocking,’ she said.
The apartment was supposed to be a temporary base while their friend—whose name was on the lease—was overseas.
Before heading away, the couple had packed up their things neatly into boxes and stored them inside the unit.
But those boxes were found opened and their contents used.
‘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.
She added that the browsing history revealed Yelkovan had 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.’
Qu’s clothes were found worn and some stained with faeces.
Their toilet had been left unflushed, while a wine decanter was repurposed into a flower vase with a street-picked bloom.
Yelkovan even used Qu’s bank card, with the transaction history suggesting he had stayed there for nearly a week.
Although the bank refunded the stolen funds, the couple had to throw out most of their possessions.
They were also forced to spend a week in a hotel while the apartment was professionally cleaned, costing them about $2000.
No compensation was offered for those expenses.
Lyu later spotted Yelkovan in Sydney’s CBD in May, despite thinking he should have been in custody.
NSW Police confirmed he had remained in custody until his court hearing at Sydney’s Downing Centre on 1 April.
Yelkovan pleaded guilty to the break-in and received a nine-month sentence to be served as an Intensive Correction Order (ICO), ending 31 December.
That ICO required strict supervision, drug abstinence, and location bans—including the Pyrmont apartment.
He also pleaded guilty to separate charges heard the same day.
These included driving without consent, reckless driving, breaching a domestic violence order, and multiple counts of obtaining financial advantage by deception.
The additional ICO imposed for those charges would run until 31 March next year, with similar restrictions on behaviour and movement.
In a previous story, readers were left equally stunned after a brazen thief shamelessly targeted a family home in broad daylight.
That incident, too, raised serious questions about safety and the sense of security in our own spaces.
You can read more about that case here.
With such a shocking breach of privacy, would you feel safe returning to the same apartment? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
What she walked into was so unexpected, it left her shaken and questioning how it could have happened in the first place.
What followed was a disturbing discovery that has since raised serious concerns about safety, privacy, and justice.
Coming home from holidays should be a relaxing return to routine—but for one university student, it was anything but.
What she walked into was so unexpected, it left her shaken and questioning how it could have happened in the first place.
What followed was a disturbing discovery that has since raised serious concerns about safety, privacy, and justice.
Stranger found living inside student’s flat. Image source: Denoora Lyu
Denoora Lyu, a 22-year-old University of Sydney student, returned to her Pyrmont apartment on 17 February to find a stranger inside.
She was accompanied by her boyfriend, William Qu, when they opened the door to what was meant to be their temporary home.
Instead, they found 30-year-old Dylan Patrick Yelkovan shirtless and surrounded by their belongings.
‘I thought I’d gone to the wrong place at first,’ Lyu shared.
Yelkovan showed no signs of panic or shame and didn’t attempt to flee.
‘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.’
Yelkovan reportedly moved through the two-bedroom apartment casually, packing his things into a backpack while getting dressed.
Lyu and Qu watched as he calmly walked in and out of the rooms like he belonged there.
He eventually exited the unit via the balcony, which Lyu believed was the same way he got in.
With the assistance of the building manager, Yelkovan was later arrested.
Lyu said the incident still didn’t feel real.
‘I’ve seen stories about break-ins like this before, but when it actually happens to you, it’s still really shocking,’ she said.
The apartment was supposed to be a temporary base while their friend—whose name was on the lease—was overseas.
Before heading away, the couple had packed up their things neatly into boxes and stored them inside the unit.
But those boxes were found opened and their contents used.
‘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.
She added that the browsing history revealed Yelkovan had 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.’
Qu’s clothes were found worn and some stained with faeces.
Their toilet had been left unflushed, while a wine decanter was repurposed into a flower vase with a street-picked bloom.
Yelkovan even used Qu’s bank card, with the transaction history suggesting he had stayed there for nearly a week.
Although the bank refunded the stolen funds, the couple had to throw out most of their possessions.
They were also forced to spend a week in a hotel while the apartment was professionally cleaned, costing them about $2000.
No compensation was offered for those expenses.
Lyu later spotted Yelkovan in Sydney’s CBD in May, despite thinking he should have been in custody.
NSW Police confirmed he had remained in custody until his court hearing at Sydney’s Downing Centre on 1 April.
Yelkovan pleaded guilty to the break-in and received a nine-month sentence to be served as an Intensive Correction Order (ICO), ending 31 December.
That ICO required strict supervision, drug abstinence, and location bans—including the Pyrmont apartment.
He also pleaded guilty to separate charges heard the same day.
These included driving without consent, reckless driving, breaching a domestic violence order, and multiple counts of obtaining financial advantage by deception.
The additional ICO imposed for those charges would run until 31 March next year, with similar restrictions on behaviour and movement.
In a previous story, readers were left equally stunned after a brazen thief shamelessly targeted a family home in broad daylight.
That incident, too, raised serious questions about safety and the sense of security in our own spaces.
You can read more about that case here.
With such a shocking breach of privacy, would you feel safe returning to the same apartment? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
