KIM Kardashian wept as she told a court she thought she was going to die when robbers stormed her hotel room and held her at gunpoint.
The reality star is giving evidence in a Paris courtroom today as the trial of 10 suspects accused of stealing $10million worth of jewellery in the 2016 heist continues.
3
3
3
Kim told the court she thought she was in the middle of a terror attack when the masked burglars burst into her hotel room.
Describing the horrifying moment they pointed a gun at her, she said: “I was on the bed and then one of them had the gun up to me and at that point that’s when they were going to shoot me, that’s when I was certain that they would shoot me.”
“The other had the gun up to my back.
“That’s the first moment when I thought should I run for it and run down the stairs.
read more on Kim Kardashian
“That’s when I realised I should just do whatever they say.”
Speaking of her terror as she was thrown onto her hotel bed, naked under her robe, she said: “The robe opens up and everything is exposed on my bottom half.
“I was certain that was the moment he was going to rape me.
“He pulled me towards him and I said a prayer and tried to mentally prepare myself.”
She added that she begged the concierge to “please translate to them that I have babies, I have to make it home.”
When they first burst into her room, Kim explained that she had no idea what they wanted, and said: “I was still in such shock, because honestly a lot of terrorist attacks were going on in the world and me and my friends were talking about what was going on in the world.
“I didn’t get what was happening and I didn’t get it was about my jewellery, even though they specifically asked for my ring.”
After a few minutes had passed and it went quiet outside, Kim then managed to free her hands and hopped down to find her pal Simone.
Kim told the court how the terror raid left her fearful that she could not trust the cops, given her attackers had dressed up in police uniforms.
She said: “I think this experience really changed everything for us.
“I never thought that we were ever not safe before this.
Kim was pictured arriving at the Palais de Justice in central Paris earlier this afternoon, supported by her mum Kris Jenner.
-
Kim now removes all jewellery before going to bed
Another lawyer asks Kim how the heist has impacted her lifestyle now.
Kim reveals that she now sends off all her jewellery to a safety deposit box every night before going to bed, and doesn’t allow any jewels in the house.
She says: “I can’t sleep at home in jewellery is at home with my babies.”
Kim adds that her security now drive her cars and sleep outside the hotel door and she avoids posting in real-time on social media.
-
Court sketches of Kim
Credit: Reuters 
Credit: Reuters -
Kim says it’s not fair for suspect to write a book about robbery
On hearing that suspect Yunice Abbas had written a book about the heist, Kim says: “I personally was really shocked when I saw that there was a book.”
She adds: “Not only did he do this, but now [he’s] making money off that – my jewellery, my memories, the watch my dad who passed away gave me when I graduated high school. I can’t get that back.
“It wasn’t just jewellery… someone took away my memories, and now he is capitalising by writing a book? it didn’t seem fair to me.”
-
Kim frustrated by ‘Grandpa robber’ name
Kim’s lawyer asks Kim how she felt about the French media describing the gang who attacked her as the “Grandpa Robbers”.
Kim says that when the raid happened – almost a decade ago – the aggressors were much younger and stronger.
She says: “It was maybe a little frustrating hearing that that is what it was called today as that is not what it felt like.”
-
Kim calls claims robbery was staged “really hurtful”
Kim speaks about the false claims that she staged the robbery for her reality show, Keeping Up With The Kardashians.
Her lawyer Léonor Hennerick asks the reality star: “How did that feel?”
Kim replies: “It was really hard for me when people were saying that I made it up maybe for my TV show.
“It was really hurtful and something that really stung deeply.
“Then I remember waking up one morning and the French press saying they had caught the people involved.
“I thought ok now people will believe me finally.
“And I remember us speaking to the French authorities, and I was so grateful.”
-
Stolen jewellery was posted on social media
Resuming her testimony, Kim confirms that some of her stolen jewellery pieces had featured in pictures she had previously posted on social media.
-
Kim looks more relaxed as court resumes
Kim seems more relaxed as court resumes after a short break.
The reality star was visibly emotional at several points throughout the two hour session this afternoon.
But Kim now looks calm as she sits on the side of the courtroom, smiling at the journalists sitting next to her.
-
Court adjourns for short time
After hearing Kim’s testimony for more than two hours the court has taken a short 15 minute break.
The other judges and defendant’s lawyers will question Kim when the trial resumes.
-
Note penned to Kim: ‘Your forgiveness is a sunshine’
Just before the court paused for a break, Aomar Air Khedache writes a note to Kim that is read out by the judge.
He tells her: “Your forgiveness is a sunshine that has enlightened me […] I am forever grateful.”
-
Kim and former driver do not engage
The courts attention is now turned to Kim’s former driver, Gary Madar, who is accused of being an accessory to the crime.
When asked if she wants to say anything to Madar, Kim says no.
He also declines the opportunity to address her.
The judge then calls a break.
-
Co-accused begs Kim to accept apology
The court proceedings now move onto suspect Yunice Abbas – who wrote a book about the heist.
Abbas is a stocky bald man wearing a black t-shirt. He is stands up, and Kim turns around to glance at him.
Abbas says: “Listening to the trauma you really regret your actions […] I beg you to accept my apologies. They are sincere.”
Another defendant, Didier Dubreucq, stands up and says it is “a shame what happened to you”.
He adds: “I don’t know what else to say but I feel for your pain”.
Yunice AbbasCredit: Getty -
Kim says: ‘I forgive you’
Kim tells the court she forgives one of the robbers who was part of the gang who held her hostage.
When the court president aska Kim if she has anything to say to Khedache, the defendant who penned the letter, she says: “I am obviously emotional about it – this experience changed my life, my family’s life.
“Back home in the states I work in the justice system and I want so badly to be a lawyer and I fight for people to seek justice.
“I do appreciate the letter for sure. I do appreciate it, I forgive you,” she says, gesturing towards him.
She is passed tissues and wipes away tears and says: “I am obviously emotional about it. This experience changed my life it changed my family’s life.
-
Court hears letter from defendant
The judge says Aomar Ait Khedache, one of the two defendants who has admitted guilt, wrote her a letter when he was arrested in 2017.
Kim says she didn’t know about this, so the judge reads it.
It goes: “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.
“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.”
Kim does not look at Khedache as his words ring out, but begins to cry.
-
Kim gaining confidence
Kim has been giving evidence for about two hours now, and has gained confidence throughout the process, reporters in the courtroom have observed
Initially, her voice was quiet and shaky – and she sobbed through the most harrowing parts of the testimony.
But in the latter stages, she has assumed a quiet confidence and now stares calmly at the interpreter.
Her hands at first remained interlaced in front of her on the stand, but she has begun gesticulating to make her points.
Kim has pointedly refused to look at the defendants.
-
Sets straight Snapchat video
Kim explains to the court that a Snapchat video she had posted must have been from the night before the raid, because she was getting a spray tan.
At the time in 2016, it had been thought that she had been sharing clips of herself inside the hotel just hours before the gang launched the robbery.
She explains to the judge that the video of her in the apartment on her own could not have been from the day of the heist.
She says: “I went back and I watched the Snapchat and the Snapchat was not the night of this.
“The Snapchat was the night before and I was staying in to get a spray tan because the next morning I was going to the Balenciaga fashion show and I was wearing no make up, so I wanted a spray tan instead.”
-
Grandpa shock
Kim says she was “surprised” when she discovered that her alleged robbers were older.
The gang have been nicknamed the “Grandpa robbers” by the French press because some are in their 60s and 70s.
Kim tells the court: “I was a bit surprised that they were older. They didn’t seem older they seemed younger.
“I think just how he carried me it wasn’t as if they were older, I was just surprised when I saw the pictures of them.”
-
Kanye scared off previous heist attempt
Kim reveals that a French magistrate told her the robbers had been planning a raid during a previous trip to Paris, but were scared to because her ex-husband, Kanye West, was there.
She says they decided to reschedule for a time when she was alone, adding: “That shocked me that they had been planning this attack for some time.”
-
Kim: They knew I was alone
Kim has touched on one of the most contentious points in the trial: how the robbers knew she was alone that night.
How they managed this is a mystery, but Kim concludes: “They have to have been told I didn’t go out to the club.”
She says she thinks someone could’ve simply staked out the hotel and seen what cars were coming and going, then alerted men.
-
Feared the robbers would return
The court is looking at Kim’s statement, where she says she feared the robbers would come back.
She says: “I’m not sure, it was just an instinct”, and that she didn’t know if they would come back, “maybe to kill us so there were no witnesses.”
Kim concludes: “I didn’t want to take any chances, so I wanted to hide.”
-
Robbers wanted more
Kim reveals that one of the robbers wanted more after they took all her jewellery – including the $4million engagement ring.
When asked if she felt one robber was in charge, she says she thinks the man who did not tied her up was “she thought the man who didn’t tie her up was “the boss”.
She says: “After they found the ring I would have expected them to leave, but he kept saying ‘more, more’.
“The other one was not satisfied with just the ring. When they found my jewellery box. But he wanted more. Everything else was packed.”
Kim says they eventually scarpered with $1,000 dollars they found in her wallet.
-
Concierge was ‘stony-faced’
Kim says that the concierge, Abderrahmane Ouatiki, who was also tied up, “was just stone faced, quiet. I was the hysterical one.”
She continues: “He didn’t have answers, I was looking at him asking ‘are we going to die’ and he was just looking at me like ‘I don’t know’.
“I felt like I was so confused about what was going on. His lack of hysteria made me question everything that was going on.”
Abderrahmane Ouatiki, who was the concierge at the hotelCredit: EPA
-
Dropped onto hard floor, but not hit
Asked by the judge if she was punched or hit during the ordeal, Kim says: “No I was not hit. No I was grabbed and dragged into the other room and dropped onto the hard floor, but not a hard hit.”
She says that when they dumped her in the bathroom, she thinks that’s when they had got a signal someone might be coming and they had to make a quick escape.
She said: “That’s when I realised that it was a bit more controlled and organised and that some one had told them that someone was coming and they had to go.”
-
Raider looked Kim in the eyes
Kim relived the moment one of the masked raiders looked her in the eye and told her to be quiet.
She says she thought that the intruder might also be a parent, as he appeared to indicate that if she stayed quiet she would be alright.
Kim says: “I felt like the guy that tied me up saw how frantic I was and when he came close to me, almost whispered ‘shh, you ok’.
“I felt like he was also a father, I felt like he felt like he wanted me to know that I would be ok if I just shut up.”
-
Defendant who has admitted guilt
Aomar Ait Khedache is one of the two ‘Grandpa Robbers’ who has admitted guiltCredit: AFP -
One of the defendants
Yunice Abbas is one of the men accused of robbing KimCredit: Splash
