Kurt Zouma avoids jail as West Ham defender sentenced for kicking and slapping cat

Kurt Zouma has been sentenced to 180 hours of unpaid community work, ordered to pay costs of £8,887 and banned from owning cats for five years after pleading guilty to kicking and slapping his pet.

Dressed in a black suit and white shirt, the 27-year-old West Ham United centre back was greeted by a man in a cat outfit as he arrived at Thames Magistrates Court to hear the verdict from District Judge Susan Holdham, who described the incident as “disgraceful and reprehensible.”

His brother Yoan Zouma has been sentenced to 140 hours after facing a charge of “aiding, abetting, counselling or procuring Kurt Zouma to commit the offence.” He also pleaded guilty last week having filmed the cats being abused.

Judge Holdham took into consideration that both Zoumas had no prior offences and pleaded guilty at the earliest possible opportunity, in addition to Kurt Zouma being fined £250,000 by West Ham after the incident occurred in February.

Speaking directly to Kurt Zouma before announcing the sentence, she said: “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 he pleaded guilty to two counts of causing “unnecessary suffering to a protected animal, by kicking and slapping a cat”, in contravention of section 4 subsection 1 of the Animal Welfare Act 2006. A third charge of failing to “protect the animal from pain suffering injury or disease” in contravention of section 9 was withdrawn.

Mirror

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