France prop Mohamed Haouas receives one-year prison sentence after hitting wife in public

Mohamed Haouas, the France prop, has been sentenced to a year in prison for domestic abuse after hitting his wife in public last week.

Reports from France have suggested that Haouas, who was remanded in custody between Friday and a fast-tracked court hearing on Tuesday, may not go to jail because he has been handed what is known as an adjustable sentence.

Haouas can appeal but is expected to return to court on June 26 in order to determine further conditions of his punishment. Already, it appears as though his move from Montpellier to Clermont, which had been agreed for this summer, will be cancelled.

Clermont released a statement on Tuesday afternoon explaining that Haouas had “put himself in total opposition with our identity” and “will not be able to wear our colours on the pitch”.

It was heard that Haouas, who last year was given a one-year suspended sentence for a historic robbery from 2014, chased, tripped and slapped his wife, Imane, near the Polygone shopping centre in Hérault on Friday afternoon.

Haouas is reported as saying that he grew angry after his wife lied to him about smoking a cigarette. “I imagined things, I got jealous. I got mad, and I lost control,” he said.

A witness alerted the police and Haouas was arrested at around 6pm. The public prosecutor argued for a harsher, 18-month sentence. Even with a less severe sanction, Haouas would now appear certain to be overlooked for the World Cup in France later this year.

His career has been blighted by on-field violence, too. He was sent off during the 2020 Six Nations for punching Jamie Ritchie, the Scotland back-rower, in the face at Murrayfield.

Just three months ago, in another Six Nations game, Haouas received another red card when he was adjudged to have headbutted Scotland scrum-half Ben White at a breakdown.