IThe prosecution wanted a heavy sanction. Tuesday, May 30, the Montpellier Criminal Court sentenced rugby player Mohamed Haouas to one year in prison, without further detention, for domestic violence. A sentence declared flexible by the court. He was tried in immediate appearance for hitting his wife on Friday. In addition, the court decided to dismiss the case concerning the withdrawal of parental authority and condemned the player to the payment of a symbolic euro for non-pecuniary damage as well as 800 euros for legal fees.
“By his behavior, Mohamed Haouas puts himself in total opposition to our identity and our convictions and, in the state of the elements we have, he will not be able to wear the colors of our club on the field,” said ASM. Clermont Auvergne in a press release published late Tuesday afternoon.
Same sanction on the side of the national team. The French Rugby Federation (FFR) judges that this condemnation is “inadmissible and incompatible” with a selection in Blue. “Being a member of the France team implies irreproachable respect for the values of respect and integrity. Firmness is our duty in such circumstances”, added Serge Simon, vice-president of the FFR in charge of the teams of France, in a press release, where the body expresses its “dismay”.
“I made movies for myself”
The prosecutor had asked for two years in prison, including one year suspended on probation, for the blows inflicted on his wife late Friday afternoon, after he saw her smoking a cigarette in front of the shopping center where she works . She had also requested the revocation of the 6-month suspended sentence for a previous burglary case, i.e. 18 months in total, and the continued detention of the 29-year-old MHR player, who had been detained pending of his judgment in immediate appearance.
“I made a film for myself,” said the Montpellier player, black long-sleeved T-shirt and blue jeans, returning to the blows to his wife late Friday afternoon. “She has the right to smoke, […] but the problem is that she lied to me, […] and I said to myself that if she can lie for the cigarette, she can lie for something else. »
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“I imagined things, married guys cheat on their wives, I love her, I was scared,” continued Mohamed Haouas, already tried twice for facts dating from 2014. “It’s me who got carried away, I really blame myself, […] she’s my wife, I love you, I love you, ”continued the 29-year-old MHR player, turning to his wife, with whom he had two children. As for the blows, it would only be “a little tripping”, to make her fall, then “a little slap, like that”, he explained. “It was stronger than me,” he replied to the prosecutor, assuring that “never in life” would he do it again.
” It’s the first time “
“Would you be willing to take care to learn to control yourself? asked his lawyer, Mr.e Mark Gallix. “Yes,” he replies. Before his testimony, his wife had come to testify, explaining that she was “shocked”: “This is the first time that Mohamed has laid hands on me,” she said. And if her husband doesn’t like her to smoke, “it’s because he was traumatized by a friend who had cancer”.
“I go on vacation with friends, I go out when I want”, she insisted, affirming that her husband does not forbid her anything and that “for any decision he asks [son] notice “. A certainty, she does not want to file a complaint and wants to continue to live with him. “She has two objectives,” explained her lawyer, Mr.e Florian Medico: “First maintain that the facts are abnormal. But she also wants to meet her husband, the father of her children, tonight so that she can discuss what happened, perhaps with a third party. “She doesn’t want to be the face of any cause. She has her vision, as a free woman […]. She tells you that her interest is to see her husband again and to make it understood that these facts are not acceptable. The path will continue with Mohamed Haouas. She is in search of balance, of justice. You have their lives in your hands,” concluded Ms.e Medico towards magistrates.
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The stakes of this trial “is enormous, it is his professional future, and if he is kept in prison, it will be difficult”, admitted Me Marc Gallix, Mohamed Haouas’s lawyer, before the start of this hearing, recalling that the Montpellier player had signed a three-year contract with AS Clermont.
Too much for his future in the XV of France?
Selected 16 times in the jersey of the France team, the Montpellier colossus (1.85 m, 123 kg) could see his career come to an end in the event of a prison sentence. Likewise, he could miss the 2023 World Cup in France (September 8-October 28), this case taking place a few days before the announcement of the 42 selected by Fabien Galthié, on June 21. Excluded against Scotland in February, during the Six Nations tournament, after a first red card received against this same team in 2020, Mohamed Haouas was in the hot seat. This third trial could seal his sporting fate.
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The MHR player had already been sentenced in February 2022 to an 18-month suspended prison sentence for robberies of tobacco shops in Montpellier in 2014. On May 12, during a second trial, for his participation in a violent fight the 1er January 2014, the prosecution requested a two-year suspended sentence. The deliberation in this case is expected on June 30.