Paris — Kim Kardashian took the witness stand Tuesday in the trial over the 2016 armed robbery in which a masked gang made off with $10 million worth of her jewelry as she visited the French capital. Kardashian testified that one member of the gang pulled her to him while she was in just a bathrobe.
“I was certain that was the moment that he was going to rape me,” Kardashian said. “I absolutely did think I was going to die,” she added.
“I thought about my sister, thought she would walk in and see me shot dead and have that memory in her forever,” she told the court, according to the Reuters news agency.
Kardashian testified the robbery happened at around 3 a.m. at her hotel. She was in bed about to fall asleep when she heard people stomping up the stairs and then entering her bedroom wearing police uniforms.
Kardashian said that once they got inside her suite, the masked thieves pointed a gun at her.
“Then I heard one of the gentlemen forcefully say, ‘Ring! Ring!’ in English, with an accent, pointing,” she told the court, according to Reuters, apparently referring to the $4 million diamond ring given to her by her then husband Kanye West, now known as Ye. The couple settled for divorce in 2022.
“It was at the end of the bed, so he grabs my leg and pulls me toward him on the bed so the robe is opened and everything is exposed,” Kardashian said. “And that was the moment when I thought he would rape me. But he ended up tying me up and closed my legs.”
During Tuesday’s testimony, Kardashian also told one of the defendants she forgave him after she was read an apology letter in court.
At the central Paris courthouse where the trial is taking place, there was intense security and crowd control measures in place. The court opened early to allow journalists and members of the public access ahead of Kardashian’s afternoon appearance.
Flanked by four bodyguards, Kardashian entered the courthouse by the rear entrance. As she mounted the stone steps, she turned, took off her dark sunglasses and smiled at the gathered crowd of fans, curious passersby and press photographers.
Dressed in black, with her hair up in a chignon, the celebrity was accompanied by her mother, Kris Jenner.
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The hearing is not being broadcast publicly, as France rarely allows cameras in courtrooms. Some 400 reporters applied to attend the trial, but there were only 40 places allocated for media inside the courtroom. A side room was set up for 200 more journalists to watch a live transmission from inside the courtroom.
Kardashian’s lawyers said she was determined to testify in person about the night she was allegedly tied up and robbed at gunpoint while she was in Paris for Fashion Week. Ten people — nine men and a woman — face charges including robbery and kidnapping against the American media personality and the concierge of the residence where she was staying on the night of Oct. 2, 2016.
Before the celebrity took the stand herself, her longtime friend-turned-stylist Simone Harouche told the court on Tuesday that she heard Kardashian begging for her life during the attack in the hotel suite they were sharing.
“‘I have babies and I need to live!’ That is what she kept on saying, ‘Take everything. I need to live,'” Harouche told the court. “I was scared that she was raped or violated. I thought the worst.”
Prosecutors have told the court that that when the gang, dressed as police officers, arrived at the luxury suites hotel known only as “The No Address” where Kardashian was staying, they demanded that the concierge, at gunpoint, guide them to “the rapper’s wife,” a reference to her then husband.
In interviews and on her family’s reality TV show, Kardashian has described being terrified during the intrusion, thinking she was going to be raped and killed.
“They dragged me out to the hallway on top of the stairs, that’s when I saw the gun, like clear as day,” she said on her show “Keeping Up with the Kardashians,” adding: “It makes me so upset thinking about it.”
The robbers, some of whom escaped on bicycles, have been dubbed “the Grandpa robbers” as most of the suspects were in their 60s at the time of the heist.
As they fled, they dropped a diamond and platinum cross that was found the next morning by a local resident. The rest of the haul has not been recovered.
The DNA of two of the accused was found at the scene, and they have admitted taking part in the robbery. Aomar Ait Khedache, now 69, is accused of masterminding the heist. Known as “Old Omar,” he reportedly told investigators he had no idea who Kardashian was, but had heard from a waiter friend about the amazing jewelry she wore when she was out dining in Paris.
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Khedache wrote to Kardashian in 2017, while he was in custody, to apologize, the judge in the case said Tuesday. Her lawyers said he wrote after he heard her speak of how traumatic the experience had been.
“I want to tell you human to human how I regret my actions and how I was touched to see you cry,” the judge said Khedache wrote, according to BBC News. “… I am sorry for the pain I caused you, your husband, your children and those who love you.”
Asked if she had a response for Khedache, Kardashian, who had been wiping her nose, said she was emotional and that the ordeal changed her life. She also noted her advocacy work in the criminal justice system.
“I do appreciate the letter for sure. I do appreciate it, I forgive you,” she said, according to the BBC. “But it doesn’t change the emotion, the feelings and the trauma and the way my life has changed.”
Yunis Abbas, 71, has admitted that he acted as a lookout for the gang. In court on April 29, he expressed “total regret” for his part in the heist. He said he understood afterward that, “when you steal a lady’s purse, it can be traumatic” for her.
A police officer who testified for the prosecution told the court Kardashian appeared “traumatized” in the immediate aftermath of the robbery.
Lawyers for some of the accused expressed concern as the trial opened last month that Kardashian’s fame would distract from the essentials of the case.
Chloe Arnoux, who represents Khedache, told reporters: “He is, in fact, rather worried about seeing all you, journalists, because he is afraid that his case will not be treated the same way it would be if there were not such a famous person involved in it.”
Kardashian’s lawyer Michael Rhodes said in April that the reality TV star and entrepreneur had ”tremendous appreciation and admiration for the French judicial system,” and ”wishes for the trial to proceed in an orderly fashion in accordance with French law and with respect for all parties to the case.”
contributed to this report.
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