West Ham defender Kurt Zouma, 27, has pleaded guilty at Thames Magistrates’ Court to kicking and slapping a cat.
The West Ham defender was faced with three offences under the Animal Welfare Act after a video emerged in February which appeared to show him kicking and slapping his cat.
Zouma’s brother Yoan, who plays for Dagenham and Redbridge, has also been accused of two offences.
Zouma, 27, was forced to apologise after harrowing footage was filmed and shared by his younger brother Yoan, 24, who admitted one offence during the hearing.
West Ham United’s Kurt Zouma pleaded guilty (PA)
(PA Wire)
Hammers defender Zouma arrived at court in chaotic fashion, accompanied by several security guards who emerged from a vehicle holding umbrellas to form a protective shield around the defendant.
The court was told about disturbing footage of the incident, filmed at Zouma’s home and posted on Snapchat by his brother on 6 February. It was later seen by a woman who had been messaging Yoan, who raised the alarm.
Zouma could be seen volleying the Bengal cat across his kitchen, before throwing a pair of shoes at it and slapping its head.
Prosecutor Hazel Stevens told the court Kurt Zouma could be heard saying: “I swear I’ll kill it, I swear I’ll kill it.”
He admitted two counts of causing unnecessary suffering to a protected animal on 6 February.
Yoan admitted one count of aiding, abetting, counselling or procuring his older brother to commit an offence.
Yoan Zouma has been accused of two counts of “aiding, abetting, counselling or procuring” Kurt to commit the offence of causing unnecessary suffering to the cat.
Kurt Zouma was reportedly fined two weeks’ wages by West Ham following the incident in February, worth around £250,000, but he continued to play for the club.
More to follow…
