QPR star Ilias Chair faces calls for two years in jail after ‘smashing lorry driver’s skull with a rock’
PROSECUTORS have called for QPR star Ilias Chair to be jailed for two years after he was accused of smashing a lorry driver's skull with a rock.
A court heard a trucker suffered life-threatening injuries in a brawl.
The allegations relate to an incident in Bazeilles, northern France, as the driver Niels T waited with his family for a coach back to Belgium after a kayaking trip in the summer of 2020.
Morocco midfielder Chair, 26, denies the assault charge - with his lawyers claiming Niels T was out to make money from the footballer.
Prosecutors in the Antwerp-born player's home town say he and two friends got into an argument with the trucker.
Antwerp's public prosecutor said: "According to many people involved, Ilias Chair lashed out at Niels T with a stone and knocked him unconscious.
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"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."
The prosecutor asked for Chair to be jailed for two years and fined £1,400, as well as calling for lesser sentences for his friends Nora H. and Jaber C.
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Chair's lawyer Alen Cilic told the hearing there was insufficient proof the ex-Stevenage loanee had caused the trucker's injuries.
He said Niels T and his family started the brawl and were trying to make money from the 12-cap ace.
The lawyer for Nials T responded: "That is nonsense. We want damages of 16,000 euros, which is only about a week's pay for Mr Chair.
"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."
The case continues.
Chair is one of QPR's key men in their fight to avoid relegation from the Championship.
He's made over 220 appearances for the Londoners, scoring 30 goals, since arriving from Belgians Lierse in 2017.