QPR ace Ilias Chair has been sentenced to a year in jail – after being found guilty of breaking a truck driver’s skull with a rock.
The Morocco midfielder has shone since joining the Championship club from Belgians Lierse in 2017.
But a court in his home town Antwerp sentenced him to a year in jail, with a further 12 months suspended, on Friday morning.
Chair, 26, was also ordered to pay his victim £13,400 compensation for his injuries.
The news is a huge blow to QPR, who are battling against relegation to League One.
The trial heard Chair, his brother Jaber and friends got into an argument with the trucker in Bazeilles, northern France, in summer 2020.
They and the driver, named as Niels T, had been waiting for a bus back to Belgium after a kayaking trip.
Antwerp’s public prosecutor told a January hearing: “According to many people involved, Ilias Chair lashed out at Niels T with a stone and knocked him unconscious.
“The consequences were dramatic for Niels T. He suffered a severe skull fracture, two centimetres long, and was taken to hospital at Reims in critical condition.
“Afterwards he had to recover for a long time in a Belgian hospital, and could not do his job as a lorry driver for a long time.
“The blow was almost fatal for him, and he still feels the after-effects.”
Chair engaged a new lawyer, but the court rejected their pleas for a retrial on Friday.
The player’s brother Jaber received a six-month suspended jail term and £700 fine for his part in the incident.
Niels T’s lawyer said: “My client almost lost his life, and it took surgeons to save him.
“He was unable to work for a long time, and still suffers adverse reactions every day to having been hit with a rock.”
QPR issued a statement, whch read: “The club are, and have been, in regular contact with Ilias Chair’s legal team regarding a charge of assault which has been made against him.
“The legal proceeding is yet to reach its conclusion. As such, the club will be making no further comment at this stage.”
Chair last featured for QPR on February 17 against Bristol City scoring the game’s only goal in a 1-0 win.
He has played 33 times in the league this season for the Rangers and has four goals and five assists for the Championship’s 22nd placed team.
In total Chair has made 223 appearances for QPR since joining the academy in 2017 from Belgian club Lierse SK.
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