Kim Kardashian forgives Paris robber in emotional testimony for $10m heist trial: Live updates

Independent

13-05-2025

Kim Kardashian told a Paris courtroom she feared her sister Kourtney would find her 'shot dead' on the bed in the apartment after the violent 2016 Paris robbery.
The Californian media personality was left traumatised after she was tied up and gagged by a gang of burglars, as they stole millions of dollars worth of jewellery from the central Paris apartment where she was staying during Paris Fashion Week in 2016.
"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, adding she said a prayer that her sister would "have an OK life" after discovering her body.
Earlier, Kardashian cried while telling the court how the ordeal 'changed everything' as started giving evidence in the trial of 10 people accused of subjecting her to a terrifying episode.
The star's stylist Simone Harouche, who was with Kardashian during Fashion Week, told the courtroom she heard the celebrity screaming upstairs in the apartment during the robbery.
'What I heard specifically was 'I have babies and I need to live, take everything, I need to live,' Harouche said.
Eight of the ten defendants - who face charges including armed robbery, kidnapping, and criminal conspiracy - deny any involvement in the case.
Kardashian has stayed calm over two hours of speaking
Zoë Beaty reports from the Palais de Justice:
It's now been almost two hours since Kardashian took the stand, yet she's retained the same calm demeanour for the duration.
She speaks clearly, her hands clasped on the lectern in front of her when she's not speaking, but often gesticulating as she responds to continued questioning. Occasionally, she's quite animated, almost demonstrating her account as she recalls harrowing details – a gun at her back, tape binding her wrists – from the night of October 3, 2016.
At the moment the chief judge is still leading questioning and proceedings, though at one point suspect Yunice Abbas, who wrote a book after the incident titled 'I Kidnapped Kim Kardashian' stood up to speak while she was on the stand. As well as the timeline of the evening in question, Kardashian has been asked about how obvious her location might be in the first storey suite of Hotel de Poutalès – or No Address France as it's known – and what she knows about the gang who attacked her.
When Kardashian first heard the intruders, she "thought it was Kourtney and Stephanie coming home drunk" – it wasn't until later that she began to see the extent of what was happening.
"Your emotions go in and out, in and out," she told court Voltaire earlier. "I thought maybe when he dropped me in the bathroom, someone had alerted him that someone was coming, or something.
"That's when I realised there were more people; that they had a good system.'
Kardashian says she felt relieved in that moment that she didn't try to run, in case she was confronted by more members of the gang waiting downstairs.
Alex Croft13 May 2025 15:04
Court takes 15 minute break
The court has taken a 15 minute pause.
Stay here for all the latest updates once the court resumes sitting.
Alex Croft13 May 2025 14:48
'I forgive you', Kardashian tells defendant after letter read out
Zoë Beaty reports from the Palais de Justice:
Kardashian thanked suspect Aomar Aït Khedache for a letter he wrote her – but says that it cannot change what happened that night.
"I do appreciate the letter, for sure, I do appreciate it," she said.
'I forgive you,' she adds, "but it doesn't change that – the feelings and the trauma and the way my life is forever changed'.
It came after the judge read out a letter from Aomar Ait Khedache - one of the defendants who lead the group - which he wrote after his arrest in 2017. He apologised for the 'pain' he had caused Ms Kardashian. 'I want to tell you human to human how I regret my actions and how I was touched to see you cry.'
Kardashian's response to the letter has been influenced by the work she does back in the States, she tells the court, where she "works in the justice system … with people who have rehabilitated themselves.
She added: "I do also fight for victims who have been through horrific crimes and who just want to be heard and understood.'
13 May 2025 14:43
Judge reads out letter in court from apologetic defendant
The judge has now read out a letter from Aomar Ait Khedache, who was suspected of being a ringleader in the robbery. Khedache previously admitted his involvement, but denied leading the group.
Kardashian had not heard about the letter before, but began crying as it was read out.
"Madame, after seeing you in a French TV show and seeing your emotion and realising what psychological harm I did to you, that I decided to write to you,' the letter read, according to the BBC.
"Not with the aim of getting forgiveness... I want to tell you human to human how I regret my actions and how I was touched to see you cry... I am sorry for the pain I caused you, your husband, you children and those who love you."
The letter added: "Of course you can't undo the past but I hope this letter will help you forget the trauma you endured because of me."
Alex Croft13 May 2025 14:39
Kardashian: I was told I would be OK if I was quiet
Kim Kardashian has discussed in more detail her encounter with the suspects, revealing that she was told she would be OK if she 'just shut up'.
"I only saw one (suspect) holding a weapon,' she told the court,
"I felt like, because the guy that tied me up saw how frantic I was and wouldn't get close to me - almost whispering: 'Shhh, are you okay? - I felt in that moment that he was (like) a father.
'I felt like he wanted me to know that I would be okay if I just shut up. And then they started arguing. I didn't know what they said, as it was in French, and then he went from 'Shh' to aggressively grabbing my legs - so I thought maybe I got it wrong."
She told the court she was 'not hit' but instead was 'grabbed, and dragged into the other room, and thrown onto the floor'.
Kardashian added: "(The gun) was pointed towards me to get me to go from room to room, and it was pointed toward me on the bed at the end."
Alex Croft13 May 2025 14:22
Kardashian recalls hiding in the bushes and calling mother, Kris Jenner
Kim Kardashian's emotional account of the violent robbery in early October 2016 has continued.
She has told the court of the moments after the robbers left, when she hid in the bushes and called her mother, Kris Jenner.
"When I got downstairs, Simone [Harouche, Kardashian's stylist who testified this morning] let me know that she had called my sister Kourtney, and her and the security were on the way,' she said.
'We weren't sure at that point if they were going to come back. So, we ran on the balcony to hide in the bushes.
"I remember calling my mom from the bushes to let her know what happened. And then I think while we were waiting for my security, we were trying to come up with a plan, if we should jump from the window, as it was just a one-storey building."
Alex Croft
I feared Kourtney would see me dead on the bed - Kardashian
Zoë Beaty reports from the Palais de Justice.
Kim Kardashian says she feared her sister Kourtney Kardashian, who was out at the time with the family's security guard, would find her dead on the bed.
"I thought about my sister, thought she would walk in and see me shot dead and have that memory in her forever."
She said a prayer that her sister would "have an OK life" after discovering her body.
"Then I waited a few minutes. After a few minutes I didn't hear anything, so I scootched over to the sink, and it was a marble sink so I cut my ties."
Alex Croft13 May 2025 14:02
Kardashian ignoring the defendants sat just metres away
Kim Kardashian is sitting barely two metres away from Aomar Ait Khedache - the man accused of being the ringleader of the gang, who is deaf and mute.
Khedache, who admits playing a role in the heist including tying Kardashian up, allegedly also held a gun in Kardashian's face.
Yunice Abbas, the 71-year-old who has spoken openly in French media about his role in the robbery - and even written a memoir about it - is sat right behind her.
According to a BBC reporter in the room, Kardashian has not looked at either of the defendants once, staring straight at the judges instead.
Alex Croft13 May 2025 13:56
Pictured: Court sketch of Kardashian's friend and stylist Simone Harouche
Alex Croft13 May 2025 13:43
Kardashian: I thought I was going to die - now I can't sleep at night
Zoë Beaty reports from the Palais de Justice.
Kim Kardashian has said she 'absolutely did think' she was going to die when she was thrown onto the bed by two men dressed in police uniforms.
She now 'can't sleep at night' without 'multiple security' personnel to protect her.
Alex Croft13 May 2025 13:30
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