Kurt Zouma admits to kicking and punching cat

The West Ham United defender pleaded guilty to two charges under the Animal Welfare Act when he appeared before Thames Magistrates’ Court in east London on Tuesday morning.

Zouma, 27, was forced to apologize after his younger brother Yoan, 24, filmed and shared harrowing footage of him admitting to an offense during the hearing.

Hammers defense attorney Zouma arrived in court in a chaotic manner, accompanied by several security guards who climbed out of a vehicle carrying umbrellas to form a protective shield around the accused.

The court was told disturbing footage of the incident that his brother posted on Snapchat on February 6.

It was later seen by a woman who had sent Yoan a message that set off the alarm.

Zouma was seen chasing the Bengal cat around his kitchen before throwing a pair of shoes at her and hitting her on the head.

Prosecutor Hazel Stevens told the court Kurt Zouma could be heard saying, “I swear I’ll kill it, I swear I’ll kill it.”

On February 6, he admitted to two counts of causing unnecessary suffering to a protected animal.

Yoan admitted that he assisted, assisted, advised or tricked his older brother into committing a crime in one case.

Prosecutor Ms Stevens said the 40-second clip appeared to have been made after the cats were blamed for damaging a chair.

She said, “Kurt Zouma is determined to chastise or seek some form of retaliation for the damage done.”

She said the young woman, who first saw the footage, was so horrified that she canceled a date with Yoan, saying: “I don’t think it’s okay to hit a cat like that — don’t come today .”

Ms Stevens added: “Since this footage was made public, there has been a surge of people hitting cats and posting it on various social media sites.

“Their behavior falls short of what is expected of a high-profile image.”

The court heard the Premier League defender has since agreed to his two Bengal cats finding new homes.

It was not possible to determine whether each section of footage was the same cat, but experts said the animal struck likely suffered soft-tissue damage to its head, as well as mental and physical ailments.

Trevor Burke QC defended the West Ham player, saying his client had been fined £250,000 by his club and lost a “significant” sponsorship deal with Adidas.

He was also not selected for the France national team, he said.

Mr Burke said: “A Google search will always turn up the guilty plea and the video.”

District Judge Susan Holdham adjourned the case pending sentencing on June 1.

Two other charges against the men were dismissed.