Reality TV star Kim Kardashian is set to testify on Tuesday afternoon at the trial of a gang accused of robbing her at gunpoint in her Paris hotel room in 2016, stealing jewellery valued at millions of dollars.
The suspects are accused of binding the billionaire celebrity with zip ties and duct tape before fleeing with items, including a $4 million engagement ring given to her by her then-husband, rapper Kanye West (now known as Ye), according to investigators.
Ahead of Kardashian’s testimony, dozens of journalists gathered early on Tuesday morning to secure access to the tribunal.
In a 2020 interview with David Letterman, Kardashian emotionally recounted the traumatic heist, revealing her deep fears of being raped during the ordeal. “They kept on saying ‘the ring, the ring’,” she recalled. “I kept looking at the concierge,” she said, referring to the hotel employee who was forced at gunpoint to lead the gang to her apartment. “I was like, ‘Are we gonna die? Just tell them I have children, I have babies… I have to get home.’”
Among the 10 suspects standing trial is Yunice Abbas, 71, a member of the so-called “grandpa gang,” which includes individuals mostly in their 60s and 70s. Abbas has admitted his involvement in the robbery and later published a book about it. In interviews with French media, he expressed regret and apologised to Kardashian, stating that he did not know who she was at the time. “It’s not her, it’s her diamond we targeted,” Abbas told C8 TV in an earlier interview.
Despite his confession, Abbas is standing trial, as guilty pleas are not allowed in such cases.
Frank Berton, the lawyer for 68-year-old Aomar Ait Khedache, nicknamed “Omar the Old,” who is accused of being the gang’s ringleader, said last month that he hoped Kardashian’s celebrity status would not influence the trial’s outcome. Khedache denies the accusations.
“This trial attracts international attention because of who the plaintiff, the victim, is,” Berton said. “What we hope is that it won’t change anything in the way the facts are judged.”
Faridah Abdulkadiri
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