Kurt Zouma’s brother, Yoan, banned from playing for Dagenham and Redbridge for involvement in West Ham star’s horrific cat attack video

Kurt Zouma's brother, Yoan, has been banned by his club Dagenham and Redbridge following his involvement in the video that showed the West Ham defender abuse his cat.

Zouma, who was selected for West Ham against Watford in the Premier League on Tuesday night, has been widely condemned after a video emerged of him dropping, kicking and slapping the pet emerged.

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His brother, who filmed the video and was heard laughing during the incident, later apologised and said he 'deeply regretted' his involvement.

Nevertheless, Dagenham and Redbridge have confirmed they have suspended the 23-year-old until the RSPCA, who confirmed they had seized the cats, conclude their investigation.

A club statement said: "The club would like to give a further update on its player, Yoan Zouma.

"Yoan was this week contacted by the RSPCA to assist in their investigation and is fully cooperating with them.

"However, Dagenham and Redbridge FC would again like to reiterate that it condemns any form of cruelty towards animals and fully understands the reaction of many of its supporters.

"The club has therefore decided that until the RSPCA has completed its investigations, Yoan will not play for Dagenham and Redbridge in any competitive match.

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"Any further action deemed necessary to be taken will be made at the conclusion of the RSPCA investigation."

More than 280,000 people have now signed an online petition on Change.org, started by Anti Animal Abuse, calling for Zouma to be prosecuted amid a growing public backlash.

West Ham announced on Wednesday afternoon that the 27-year-old, who has apologised, had been fined two weeks' wages - reported to be in the region of £250,000 - which will be donated to animal welfare charities.

However, on Thursday his teammate Michail Antonio has questioned whether Zouma's mistreatment of his cat is 'worse than racism'.

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"I've got a question for you. Do you think what he's done is worse than racism?" Antonio said.

"I'm not condoning a thing that he's done, I don't agree with what he has done at all.

"But there's people that have been convicted and been caught for racism, and have played football afterwards.

"They got an eight-game punishment or something like that, but people are now calling for people to be sacked, for them to lose their livelihood.

"I've just got to ask this question to everyone out there: 'is what he's (Zouma) done worse than what the people have done that (were) convicted of racism?'

Zouma and West Ham are co-operating fully with the RSCPA-led investigation.

The RSPCA said it had been dealing with the issue before the video went viral and would continue its investigations.