An EFL star says he is deeply sorry and has changed for the better after accidentally breaking a man’s skull with a rock in defence of his mother.
QPR playmaker Ilias Chair lashed out at a man in 2020 after his mum was hurt in a melee while trying to board a bus on a summer holiday in Belgium’s Ardennes Forest.
In February 2024 Chair was given a two-year prison sentence, half of it suspended, but appealed and saw his criminal conviction reduced to a misdemeanour in July last year.
He served no time behind bars because he lodged his appeal immediately and instead was ordered to carry out 150 hours of community service and a reduced fine equivalent to £1,400.
Now, in an emotional interview, the 28-year-old, who is believed to be married and has a young son, says he wishes he could take everything back but insists his behaviour was a ‘natural and human reaction’.
‘I simply saw my mother on the floor in a vulnerable and scary position and I reacted,’ he told The Athletic. ‘It all happened so fast in response to what was happening. Despite this, it never should have happened.
An EFL footballer says he regrets an incident which saw him break a man’s skull with a rock to defend his mother
QPR playmaker Ilias Chair caused a 2cm fracture in the man’s skull on holiday in 2020
‘I spoke to the judge [at the appeal] and I think the judge appreciated the human side of the whole case. Because at the end of the day, as a young man, being there with your family, seeing your mum on the floor, bruised up… it’s not an excuse to do what I did, but at the same time, it was such a natural and human reaction that I had to that circumstance.
‘I wrote a letter to him and his family to say how sorry I am and apologise from the bottom of my heart. I said I wish them nothing but the best in life.
‘I learned from the whole situation,’ he said. ‘We are humans, we make mistakes. My mistakes are out there in public, which is not an issue because as footballers we have the fruits of being in the public eye and playing football, which a lot of people in this world want to do, but at the same time, some negatives come with it. You have to deal with them.
‘It has changed me for good in terms of taking more responsibility.’
The Morocco international has also opened up on the mental trauma of going through the legal process and the burden of guilt.
Describing the day he found out about his initial prison sentence, he said: ‘That was probably the darkest day of my life. You automatically go into the worst-case scenario — everything I’ve worked for, everything I’ve done for myself, for my family, could be gone. It still makes me emotional thinking about it now.
‘It was something that I needed to fight, really,’ he added. ‘My own demons.’
Chair, who joined QPR in 2017 and dreams of taking them into the Premier League, was able to play on even after receiving his prison sentence.
Chair wrote the man a letter and says he has learned to be a better person after a drawn-out legal case
He was initially given a two-year prison sentence – half of it suspended – but his appeal saw that changed to 150 hours of community service and a £1,400 fine
That’s because, in Belgian law, the alleged perpetrator is free to go about their business until the legal process is complete if they appeal immediately.
Now he hopes to put the ordeal behind him.
The man he injured, Niels T, was left with a skull fracture of 2cm and was quickly treated at a hospital in Reims before being relocated to one in Belgium for a ‘long time’.
As of February 2024, almost four years after the incident, the man was ‘still suffering the consequences’ and had been unable to work as a truck driver for a substantial length of time, as per The Athletic.
Chair had been caught by surprise by the seriousness of the case after initially handing it over to a legal team when it was deemed a civil matter.
Finding out that he had been prosecuted in a criminal case in January 2024, Chair is said to have gone into a ‘state of shock’.
But his career has survived the anguish and stress that the case caused and he remains one of QPR’s most important players.
