Kurt Zouma pleads guilty to kicking, slapping his pet cat

LONDON (AP) — West Ham defender Kurt Zouma has pleaded guilty to kicking and slapping his pet cat in abuse caught on video. The 27-year-old France international appeared at a hearing at Thames Magistrates’ Court accused of three offenses under the Animal Welfare Act in relation to footage of the abuse that surfaced on social media in February. Zouma pleaded guilty to two counts of causing unnecessary suffering to a protected animal. He arrived at the court in a car and was accompanied by several security guards who held out umbrellas to form a protective shield around him.