The pillar of the XV of France Mohamed Haouas was sentenced to one year in prison on Tuesday May 30 in Montpellier for domestic violence, but without continued detention. The criminal court did not follow the prosecutor, who had requested a total of 18 months with a warrant of committal and therefore continued detention against the Montpellier Hérault Rugby (MHR) player, tried for hitting his wife on Friday, after he saw her smoking a cigarette in front of the mall where she works.
The 29-year-old player, who had been detained pending his trial in immediate appearance, left after the hearing to prison for the formalities of release. The prosecutor had requested two years in prison, including one year suspended probation, for the blows to his wife, as well as the revocation of a six-month suspended sentence for a previous burglary case, in which the Montpellier player had been sentenced 18 months suspended prison sentence, 18 months in total.
The magistrate had also requested the continued detention of the MHR player, married and father of two children: "I request continued detention to protect Madam, the risk of repetition is major", she explained. "You asked for a sentence that will destroy a family," the player's defense lawyer, Marc Gallix, replied: "A slap can happen, but he didn't beat her up. I am asking for a sentence with a suspended probation with the obligation to take care of himself, ”he continued.
Already sentenced in February 2022
The court rendered its decision after a brief deliberation, therefore condemning the player to a firm, but flexible, one-year sentence. The judges also awarded one euro in damages to the wife of Mohamed Haouas, who did not file a complaint but filed a civil action. She had assured during the hearing that it was the first time that he raised his hand on her. "She wants to find her husband, the father of her children, tonight so that she can discuss what happened, perhaps with a third party," said her lawyer, Florian Medico.
Mohamed Haouas "will not be able to wear, on the ground, the colors" of the Clermont club, with which he was engaged from the 2023-2024 season, reacted the ASM. "By his behavior, Mohamed Haouas puts himself in total opposition to our identity and our convictions", justified the Auvergne club in a press release, considering that the facts alleged against the pillar of Montpellier were "unacceptable".
Selected sixteen times in the jersey of the France team, the Montpellier colossus (1.85 meters, 123 kilos) could see his career come to an end in the event of a prison sentence. His participation in the 2023 Rugby World Cup in France (September 8-October 28) therefore remains in the balance a few days before the announcement of the 42 selected by Fabien Galthié, on June 21. Excluded against Scotland in February, during the last Six Nations Tournament, after a first red card received against this same team in 2020, Mohamed Haouas was however already in the hot seat sportingly.
The MHR player had therefore already been sentenced in February 2022, for robberies of tobacco shops in Montpellier, in 2014. On May 12, during a second trial for his participation in a violent fight on January 1, 2014, the prosecution requested a two-year suspended sentence. The deliberation in this case is expected on June 30.
