The sentence has finally fallen.
A suspended prison sentence of 18 months.
Who will therefore not mortgage the rest of the sports career of the pillar of the XV of France and the Montpellier team.
The trial of Mohamed Haouas, prosecuted for his alleged involvement in burglaries of tobacco bars in 2014, when he was 19, finally took place this Friday before the Montpellier Criminal Court.
Initially scheduled for January 2021 and postponed several times, this trial deprived the MHR player, current 2nd in the Top 14, of the opening match of the Six Nations Tournament with the Blues on Sunday against Italy.
Arrested in June 2014 and detained for four days in a remand center as part of the investigation into a series of burglaries of tobacco shops committed in Montpellier between February 14 and April 27 of this year, the international must answer for "
thefts in meetings with breaking
and entering " and "
receiving
" a stolen Citroën C3.
His DNA had been found on the rubber band of a headlamp abandoned by the burglars, three or four in number.
The loot consisted mainly of cartons of cigarettes, scratch off lottery tickets and tax stamps, for a value of several tens of thousands of euros.
These are the video surveillance images and the testimony of the police officers involved in one of the burglaries, "
jostling in the manner of
“, who had brought the suspicions on him.
"''Momo'', tell them to hurry, we have training at 2:00 p.m. "
Philippe Saint-Andre
Navy blue hooded jacket, pants and black surgical mask, Mohamed Haouas, 27-year-old colossus of 1.85 m for 125 kg, arrived this morning with his wife and the manager of the Hérault club, the former coach of the Blues Philippe Saint-Andre.
"
''Momo'', tell them to hurry up, we have training at 2:00 p.m.
", launched Saint-André before the opening of the hearing, to try to cheer up his player.
Visibly tense, the pillar of the Blues then relaxed, listening carefully to the start of the hearing, in the front row.
With Mohamed Haouas, only one man was prosecuted Friday in this case, one of his alleged accomplices, arrested in flagrante delicto during a burglary on March 3, 2013, who appeared detained.
A third man, a minor at the time, was referred to him before a juvenile judge.
During his hearing in June 2014, Mohamed Haouas refuted any involvement in these burglaries.
He only admitted to having participated in the transport of boxes of cigarettes stolen during one of the burglaries.
Mohamed Haouas's lawyer, Me Marc Gallix, had several times declared that his client wanted the trial to take place as soon as possible, in order to "
get rid
of it " as soon as possible.
"
It's old, all that, for him
," he added.
