Zouma’s guilty plea to cat cruelty charges

KURT ZOUMA today pleaded guilty to animal welfare offences after a video showed him kicking and slapping his pet cat.

The West Ham defender had been charged with three offences under the Animal Welfare Act following an RSPCA investigation into the video, which emerged on social media in February.

Zouma (right) was accused of two counts of causing “unnecessary suffering” to the cat and also of failing to protect it from “pain suffering, injury or disease”. The former Chelsea man arrived at Thames Magistrates Court flanked by security guards shortly before 10am for a first hearing and quickly entered a guilty plea.

His brother, Yoan, a footballer for Dagenham & Redbridge, filmed the video and has also been charged with two counts of “aiding, abetting, counselling or procuring” Zouma’s offences.

The video was initially posted on Yoan’s Snapchat account but went viral, prompting widespread outrage from animal rights groups and the general public.

The France centre-back was hit with a maximum fine of two weeks’ wages — around £250,000 — by West Ham and lost his sponsorship deal with boot manufacturer Adidas.

However, the 27-year-old kept his place in David Moyes’s side, starting a Premier League match against Watford only hours after the video became public, a move which saw several commercial partners walk away from the club.

The RSPCA subsequently launched its investigation and confiscated Zouma’s two cats, which remain in the organisation’s care. In an apology issued at the time, Zouma said he was “deeply sorry”.