February 9, 2022
Kurt Zouma fined £250k, Adidas deal withdrawn, could face 4 years jail time for kicking a pussycat
French professional footballer Kurt Zouma who plays as a centre-back for Premier League club West Ham United and the France national team could bag a whooping 4 year jail term as a video of him kicking and chasing away his cat surfaces online.
RSPCA ( Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals ) have seized the animal and opened investigations into the matter. An RSPCA spokesperson said “We have been dealing with this since before the clip went viral online and we need to follow the proper legal process and not discuss due to UK GDPR laws.”
The footballer, who is on £125,000 a week, has been docked two weeks’ wages by his club as they pledged to donate the money to animal charities.
A statement said: ‘West Ham United can confirm that the club is supporting an RSPCA investigation into the actions of Kurt Zouma in the video circulated online this week.
According to article 113-6 of the French Penal Code, a French citizen can be prosecuted for criminal acts carried out abroad.
Tough new animal protection laws were introduced in France in 2021, meaning that the ‘mistreatment of animals’ is now punishable by up to four years in prison and a fine equivalent to £50,000.
Aggravated factors in any criminal prosecution included acts of violence being committed in front of other people, or if the animal belongs to the attacker.
‘In the case of Kurt Zouma, the video appears to show aggravating facts, so he could be in very serious trouble,’ said a source close to the case.
However, there have been outage within the African community online concerning his punishment as many described it as too harsh and it being done to him because of his African descent.
Twitter users said
Never heard of any sport brand withdrawing a player’s contract over racism. People got fined paltry sums for racist comments, Zouma gets fined £250k for kicking a cat. Has his adidas contract withdrawn. Virtue signalling. Nothing more. Zouma is wrong. The punishment? Overboard.
@Omojuwa
Kurt Zouma has been fined the sum of £250,000, had his Adidas deal cancelled, and could face 4years in a French prison for kicking his cat. Eden Hazard kicked a 17year old ball boy, and got away with only 3 match ban. Make of this whatever you want.
@Elkrosmediahub
Zouma is targeted because he is black. Know this, know peace. Because Maguire is still Captain of his team after trying to bribe Police. Luis Suarez also finished his Premier League career in peace. Mark Clattenburg called Mikel Obi a monkey and was protected.
@ronaldnzimora
