WATCH: West Ham defender Kurt Zouma sentenced for Snapchat cat attack video
In a disturbing home video posted on Snapchat, Premier League footballer Kurt Zouma was ordered to perform 180 hours of community service and banned from keeping cats for five years.
The 27-year-old West Ham defender showed no emotion when he was sentenced at Thames Magistrates Court in east London on Wednesday.
He drew international condemnation after footage of him volleying his pet through the kitchen then threw a pair of shoes at it and slapped it on the head, saying: “I swear I’ll kill it.”
District Judge Susan Holdham called the actions “disgraceful and reprehensible.”
Ms Holdham said: “The cat looked up to you to take care of its needs. On that day in February, instead of meeting its needs, you caused unnecessary suffering for your own entertainment.”
Last week, Kurt Zouma pleaded guilty to two counts of causing unnecessary suffering to a cat after he accused the family pet of damaging the chair.
His brother Yoan Zouma, 24, a footballer from Dagenham and Redbridge, pleaded guilty to one count of complying with, abetting, mentoring or causing his older brother and sister to commit a crime.
He was ordered to perform 140 hours of community service.
The incident, captured on Snapchat by Yoan Zouma, shows his brother Kurt volleying the Bengal cat across his kitchen, slapping it on the head and throwing shoes at it.
During the trial, prosecutor Hazel Stevens told the court Kurt Zouma could be heard saying: “I swear I’ll kill it, I swear I’ll kill it.”
The court was told the “premeditated” attack was sent by Yoan Zouma to a woman he was dating.
But the woman was so shocked she cancelled their meeting, telling him: “I don’t think it’s OK to hit a cat like this – don’t bother coming today.”
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Following the incident, West Ham fined Kurt Zouma a maximum of two weeks’ wages (£250,000), which will be donated to nine different animal welfare charities.
These charities include Cats Protection, People’s Dispensary for Sick Animals, Pussycat Lodge Trust, Hopefield Animal Sanctuary, National Animal Welfare Trust and Celia Hammond Animal Trust.
Kurt Zouma was also abandoned by German sportswear giant Adidas, and the Frenchman’s two pets were taken care of by animal charity RSPCA in February 2022.
More than 340,000 people have signed a petition to sue the West Ham defender and take away his pet.
“We hope this case serves as a reminder that all animals deserve to be treated with kindness, compassion and respect, and we will not tolerate cruelty from anyone,” RSPCA Chief Ombudsman Dermot Murphy said in a statement.