By Juliette Jabkhiro
PARIS (Reuters) – A group of men dubbed the “grandpa robbers” will be among 10 people to go on trial next week accused of stealing millions of dollars worth of jewellery from Kim Kardashian, who was held at gunpoint in her apartment during Paris fashion week in 2016.
The reality TV star will travel to Paris to give evidence against the defendants, including men in their 70s, in the trial which will run for almost a month, her lawyer said.
The suspects, wearing ski masks and clothes with police markings, tied Kardashian up in the bedroom of the luxury suite, before making off with a $4 million engagement ring given to her by her then husband, rapper Kanye West (now known as Ye), and other jewels, according to investigators.
The heist left Kardashian, whose bodyguard had accompanied her sister Kourtney to a nightclub on the night of the robbery, badly shaken but unhurt.
“They were yelling at me in French,” Kardashian recalled in an interview with David Letterman in 2020. “They kept on saying ‘the ring, the ring’.”
“I kept looking at the concierge,” she said. “I was like ‘are we gonna die? Just tell them I have children, I have babies … I have to get home’.”
Kardashian’s legal team said she would not comment ahead of the trial.
“At this time, Ms. Kardashian is preserving her testimony for the court and jury,” the team said. “She wishes for the trial to proceed in an orderly fashion in accordance with French law and with respect for all parties to the case.”
DIAMOND TARGET
In total, 10 people will be tried by the criminal court. Five of them face armed robbery and kidnapping charges. The others are charged with complicity in the heist or the unauthorised possession of a weapon.
Investigators say that in the early hours of October 3, 2016, three of the men allegedly gained entry to the building under the pretence of being police, threatening the concierge at gunpoint. Two of them forced him to lead them to Kardashian’s suite.
The apartment block, with several secret entrances, was in a discreet building behind the city’s Madeleine church often frequented by movie and music stars who paid up to 15,000 euros ($16,800) a night.
One of the accused, Yunice Abbas, 71, has admitted his participation in the robbery. He told French television channel TF1 that he struggled to make ends meet as a pensioner having spent 20 years of his working life in jail.
The “big job was to be the last”, he said, adding that he had been told a big diamond was the target but that he had no idea it belonged to a celebrity billionaire.
The men fled on bicycles with an estimated $9 million in loot. Abbas fell off his bike, losing some jewels on the pavement.
Abbas’ lawyer, Gabriel Dumenil, told Reuters his client had immediately acknowledged his involvement in the heist under interrogation. Abbas denies being the ringleader and had not been aware arms would be used, his lawyer said.
DNA traces found on plastic bands used to tie the wrists of Kardashian helped French police make arrests the following January.
(Reporting by Juliette Jabkhiro; Editing by Richard Lough and Alison Williams)
