West Ham defender Kurt Zouma has avoided jail-time for his widely publicised animal abuse on a cat, which initially emerged through a video in February.
Frenchman Zouma was instead sentenced to 180 hours of community service and banned from owning a cat for five years, after he pleaded guilty to two counts of causing unnecessary suffering to a protected animal after kicking and slapping the cat.
The video shows Zouma picking up the cat and kicking it across his kitchen, before he hurls a shoe at it and finally slaps it in the face after a child had picked it up.
Kurt Zouma volleying his cat 😱😱
pic.twitter.com/I7s3gpHpPf— The72 - We Love the #EFL (@_The72) February 7, 2022
Zouma was initially fined £250,000 pounds by West Ham, and the club have released a statement following today's verdict:
"West Ham United can confirm that Kurt Zouma has been handed a community service order following an investigation by the RSPCA. West Ham United wishes to make clear that we condemn in the strongest terms any form of animal abuse or cruelty. This type of behaviour is unacceptable and is not in line with the values of the football club.
"Within 48 hours of the footage emerging, we fined Kurt the maximum available to the club. Every single penny of this money is now with a number of deserving charities, all dedicated to animal welfare.Kurt admitted at the earliest opportunity that what he did was wrong. He has apologised without reservation. We hope that now the court has reached its decision, everyone will allow Kurt the chance to learn from his mistake and move on."
Zouma had apologised profusely, after the incident was widely shared and condemned on social media.
“I want to apologise for my actions. There are no excuses for my behaviour, which I sincerely regret. I also want to say how deeply sorry I am to anyone who was upset by the video. I would like to assure everyone that our two cats are perfectly fine and healthy. They are loved and cherished by our entire family, and this behaviour was an isolated incident that will not happen again.”
It was also revealed that the original video was sent by his brother to a woman he was messaging, before she raised the alarm and told him "I don't think hitting a cat like that is OK - don't bother coming today."
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