QPR release statement on Ilias Chair after player sentenced to prison for assault on truck driver

QPR have released a statement after Ilias Chair was charged with assault and handed a prison sentence.

A court in Antwerp, where the Morocco international grew up, sentenced Chair to jail for a year with a further 12 months suspended on Friday morning.

The 26-year-old has also been ordered to pay the victim £13,400 in compensation for his injuries while Chair's brother Jaber has also been handed a prison sentence.

The two are accused of assaulting a truck driver, named Niels T in court, with a rock that left him with serious injuries including a broken skull.

Chair is appealing, and is understood to be back in the UK.

He is expected to remain available to play for QPR while he appeals the sentence.

QPR said: "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."

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 has been a key player for QPR this season, playing 31 times in the Championship, scoring four and assisting five.

The London side are in a desperate situation, sitting in the relegation zone and are in serious danger of being relegated to League One this season.

Chair has spent the majority of his career at QPR, where he has made 223 appearances, scoring 32 times and assisting 36.

A court heard that Chair, his brother and his friends got into an argument with the truck in Bazeilles, France in the summer of 2020.

They had been waiting for a bus back to Belgium after a kayaking trip before a fracas broke out.

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."