Footballer Kurt Zouma has been sentenced to 180 of unpaid community service, ordered to pay costs of £8,887 and banned from keeping cats for five years after pleading guilty to kicking and slapping his pet cat at Thames Magistrates’ Court today (June 1) in London.
The verdict came from district judge Susan Holdham, who described the incident as "disgraceful and reprehensible", adding: "You kicked and slapped either the same cat or both of them – that cat looked to you to care for its needs. On that date in February, you didn’t provide for its needs but caused unnecessary suffering for your own amusement."
Last week at Thames Magistrates’ Court, the Premier League defender, 27, admitted two counts of causing unnecessary suffering to a protected animal by kicking it in the abdomen and slapping it on the head in contravention of section 4 subsection 1 of the Animal Welfare Act 2006. The incident was captured on camera at the time by Zouma's brother, Yoan, who posted it onto his Snapchat account in February.
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The disturbing footage shows the 27-year-old kicking his pet Bengal cat across his kitchen before throwing shoes at it and slapping its head. He also made threats to kill the feline.
Yoan sent the footage to a woman he had been in contact with at the time regarding arranging a date, who raised concern. The court heard Yoan had 80 followers on Snapchat, and only five accounts viewed it before it was deleted a few minutes after being posted.
The 24-year-old has been sentenced to 140 hours of community service after facing a charge of “aiding, abetting, counselling or procuring Kurt Zouma to commit the offence”. In the video Kurt can be heard saying: "I swear I'll kill it, I swear I'll kill it," Hazel Stevens, for the prosecution, said.
The 40-second clip appeared to have been recorded after the cats were blamed for damaging a chair. Ms Stevens added: "Kurt Zouma is determined to chastise or carry out some sort of retribution for the damage caused."
In the hearing, that lasted 15 minutes, Ms Stevens said the woman who raised the alarm was so appalled that she cancelled a date with Yoan, saying: "I don't think hitting a cat like that is OK - don't bother coming today."
Both cats were brought under the care of RSPCA on February 12 and Zouma has since signed over ownership. His two Bengal male cats have since been signed over to be rehomed.
After the video emerged back in February, Kurt was fined two weeks' wages - the maximum permitted - by West Ham, which donated the sum of £250,000 to nine different charities. In a statement, RSPCA chief inspectorate officer Dermot Murphy said: "We hope this case will serve as a reminder that all animals deserve to be treated with kindness, compassion and respect, and that we will not tolerate cruelty by anybody."
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