Court demands jail term for Diouf

A Senegalese prosecutor has demanded a six-month jail sentence for Bolton Wanderers striker El Hadji Diouf after he is alleged to have punched the ex-wife of a team-mate, the woman's lawyer said this week.

Aichatou Ba, former wife of Diouf's Bolton colleague Khalilou Fadiga, has accused the Senegal striker of beating her up in a night club in Dakar in July in an encounter she says left her unfit to work for 25 days.

"He (Diouf) physically assaulted my client and the prosecutor has demanded a six-month jail sentence," Ba's lawyer Doudou Ndoye told Reuters.

Diouf was not represented when the civil case was heard in a Dakar court which is expected to rule on the case on December 20.

Under Senegal's legal system, a prosecutor acts even in civil cases.

Ndoye said a six-month sentence could rule Diouf out of the African Nations Cup tournament in Egypt which starts in January.

Unusually for a plaintiff's lawyer, he said he thought the prosecutor's demand for a jail term was too harsh.

"I personally think he does not deserve to go to jail but he needs a good lesson. You don't beat a woman," Ndoye said.

On Thursday, a British court banned Diouf from driving for 12 months after he was found guilty of a drink-driving offence.

The 24-year-old striker had been out drinking champagne to celebrate an English Premier League win, the court heard.

Last month a British court fined Diouf 500 pounds after he admitted a charge of disorderly conduct for spitting at a fan during a Premier League match a year ago.