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One of the suspects in the armed theft of actuality TV star Kim Kardashian stated he regrets the “trauma” he brought on her almost 9 years after Kardashian was sure, gagged and robbed at gunpoint throughout Paris Fashion Week in October 2016.
The theft was thought-about the most important heist concentrating on a person that Paris had seen in many years. The jury of six residents will conduct the trial, together with three magistrates — a process in France reserved for probably the most severe crimes.
Defendant Yunice Abbas stated this was the primary time he really acknowledged the “trauma” he brought on Kardashian, because the trial started Tuesday within the proceedings towards 10 individuals charged in reference to the 2016 theft, the place greater than US$10 million value of knickknack was stolen.
“I regret it, not because I got caught, but because … there was a trauma,” Abbas, 72, informed the jury.
Defendant Yunice Abbas arrives for the beginning of the trial for the 2016 theft and kidnapping of U.S. movie star Kim Kardashian on the Assize Court of Paris, on April 28, 2025.
MAGALI COHEN/Hans Lucas/AFP through Getty Images
Abbas was the primary of a number of defendants set to testify within the trial and had beforehand confessed to his position within the crime in his 2021 ebook, titled I Kidnapped Kim Kardashian, which got here up through the testimony.
He claimed that he was not chargeable for the title of the ebook and he stated he was not concerned in tying up Kardashian through the theft, in keeping with NBC News.
Abbas stated he acted as a lookout on the reception space on the bottom ground, making certain the escape route was clear. He stated he was unarmed and didn’t personally threaten Kardashian, however acknowledged he shared accountability for the crime.
He was arrested in January 2017 and spent 21 months in jail earlier than being launched below judicial supervision. Abbas and 9 others, referred to as the “grandpa robbers” in native media because of their ages, are alleged to have performed completely different roles within the heist.
According to Abbas, minutes after the raid began, his accomplices got here down from Kardashian’s condominium and gave him a bag of knickknack.
As he was fleeing the scene on a bicycle, he noticed a police automobile, however officers weren’t but conscious of the theft. Abbas stated that as he rode the bicycle, the bag containing the jewellery grew to become caught within the entrance wheel and he fell to the bottom, spilling the contents of the bag.
“I picked the jewels up and left,” he stated.
The following morning, a passerby discovered a diamond-encrusted cross on the street and handed it to police. That was the one jewellery from the theft that was ever recovered.
Abbas claimed he didn’t know Kardashian’s id on the time of the theft.
“I was told about a famous person, a rapper’s wife. That’s all the information I had,” he stated. “Until the next morning, when I heard on TV about the influencer. That’s when I understood who she was.”
During questioning on Tuesday, Abbas spoke about his felony previous, together with an armed theft of a financial institution in Belgium. He stated that when he was youthful, he was against theft however later turned to a lifetime of crime because of the unhealthy influences of associates and cash difficulties.
He stated he “never had a role model” and had carried out what he believed he wanted to do as a way to present for his kids.
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In the years following the theft, Abbas stated he now felt “very uneasy” about what passed off that day, including, “I can’t do anything besides apologize.”
In her account to investigators, Kardashian described two males forcing their method into her bed room at a non-public condominium complicated in Paris and pointing a gun in the direction of her, asking for her ring. She stated she was tied up with plastic cables and tape whereas the intruders have been on the lookout for jewels, together with her engagement ring value hundreds of thousands of {dollars}.
Twelve individuals have been initially anticipated within the defendants’ field. One has died and one other is critically ailing and might’t be tried. According to the investigation, 5 of the ten defendants have been current on the scene of the theft.
Others anticipated to face trial embrace the alleged ringleader, 68-year-old Aomar Aït Khedache; his son Harminy, 37, who’s accused of being the getaway driver; Didier Dubreucq, 69, often known as “Blue Eyes,” who’s the second alleged robber suspected of coming into the flat; and Christiane Glotin, 78, who is anticipated to face trial as an confederate within the heist.
This court docket sketch made on April 28, 2025 exhibits defendants Aomar Ait Khedache (C, entrance), Francois Delaporte (R, up), Florus Heroui (2nd R, up) and Christiane Glotin (4th T, up) through the trial for the 2016 theft and kidnapping of U.S. movie star Kim Kardashian on the Assize Court of Paris, on April 28, 2025.
BENOIT PEYRUCQ/AFP through Getty Images
The brother of Kardashian’s driver in Paris, Gary Madar, 35, can be anticipated to face trial. He is accused of tipping the others off to Kardashian’s location.
Defendant Gary Madar through the trial for the 2016 theft and kidnapping of U.S. movie star Kim Kardashian on the Assize Court of Paris, on April 28, 2025.
MAGALI COHEN/Hans Lucas/AFP through Getty Images
Kardashian, 44, is anticipated to testify in particular person on the trial, scheduled to run via May 23. Her attorneys stated she’s going to testify in particular person and is anticipated to talk on May 13.
“Ms. Kardashian is reserving her testimony for the court and jury and does not wish to elaborate further at this time,” they stated. “She has great respect and admiration for the French justice system and has been treated with great respect by the French authorities.”
In interviews and on her household’s actuality TV present, she has described being terrified as robbers pointed a gun at her. She stated she thought she was going to be raped and killed.
In March 2017 on Keeping Up With the Kardashians, the mom of 4 theorized {that a} group of males have been following her household the complete Paris journey and admitted she was Snapchatting that evening, letting her followers know that everybody was going out, together with her then-bodyguard Pascal Duvier, and that she could be alone.
“What I think happened now after thinking about it so much is that there was probably a group of guys that were following us the entire trip. I was Snapchatting that I was home and everyone was going out.
“They had this window of opportunity and just went for it,” she stated.
She defined she was falling asleep in her room when she heard pounding on the steps. She thought it was her sister Kourtney and her assistant Stephanie. She continued to name out “hello” with out getting any response.
“Then at that moment, when there wasn’t an answer, my heart started to get really tense, like your stomach just kind of like knots up, and you’re like, ‘OK, what’s going on?’” she stated. “I knew something wasn’t quite right.”
She informed her sisters what occurred after the armed robbers entered.
“I saw two guys holding another guy down in police uniforms, right outside of my bedroom, five feet away. So I slid off my bed and picked up my phone, and I’m like, ‘I don’t know how to call 911 in a different country.’ So I called Pascal and then the guy came in, grabbed the phone from me, and threw me on the bed. I was like, ‘This is it.’”
She says she acknowledged the concierge, who was handcuffed, holding the important thing to her room.
“What I heard from talking to [the concierge] afterward, they said, ‘Where’s the rapper’s wife? Let us up to her room,’” she stated.
“He grabbed my legs — I had no clothes on under there — and he pulled me towards him at the front of the bed and I thought, ‘OK, this is the moment he’s going to rape me,’” the Skims founder stated throughout her interview.
“I fully mentally prepped myself and he didn’t. He duct taped my legs together and then they had the gun up to me, I knew that was the moment they were totally going to shoot me in the head.”
Kardashian’s lawyer, Michael Rhodes, has stated the truth TV star and entrepreneur needs the trial “to proceed in an orderly fashion in accordance with French law and with respect for all parties to the case.”
— With recordsdata from The Associated Press
