reality television star and business mogul Kim Kardashian testified in a French courtroom about his experience of being stolen by gunshot at a hotel in Paris.
Standing on witnesses Tuesday, Kardashian confronted a suspect who was accused of tying her and closing her mouth on October 3, 2016, and stole more than $6 million in jewelry.
The incident relates to a group of around 12 suspects known in French media as “Les Papis Braqueurs,” or grandpa robbers. According to prosecutors, many groups in the 60s and 70s are part of the crime ring. Some have died since the robbery was carried out, but the charges against others have been dismissed due to health concerns.
However, Kardashian recounted the horror he felt when members of the group burst into their hotel rooms after spending the night at Paris Fashion Week.
“We were leaving the next morning, so we were just packing,” Kardashian said. “It was around 3am in the morning. I heard him stomp the stairs while I was in bed.”
She explained that she thought her sister Kourtney Kardashian was back in her hotel room. But instead, it was a group of armed men dressing up police officers and wearing balaclavas.
Shaking her a gun, one of the men asked her to abandon her $4 million engagement ring.
“Then I heard one of the gentlemen say with force, “Ring! Ring!” In English, refer to accents,” she said.
At one point, she said the robber had threw her into a hotel bed. She was wearing a bathrobe at the time.
“I was sure that was the moment he raped me,” Kardashian explained. “I thought I would definitely die.”
Her mind flashed at the idea of going home to find her body, she added. “I thought about my sister and I thought she would come in and see that I had that memory in her forever and see her in and be shot.”
However, the robber began to restrain her with zip ties and duct tape. They said she was safe as long as she was quiet.
“I have a baby,” recalled the thoughts of the mother of four. “I have to make it home. They can take everything. I have to make it home.”
Eventually, she is locked up in the marble bathroom of her hotel room, and the robber escapes. In her testimony, she explained that the suspect did not defeat her during the attack.
“I grabbed it, dragged it into another room and thrown onto the floor, but never hit it,” she said.
Ultimately, Kardashian said that the bathroom sink could be used to loosen the hand restraints. She stepped downstairs, where she met stylist Simone Hallouch. Simone Hallouch was locked up in the bathroom on the lower ground floor to ask for help during the attack.
“She was by her own side. I’ve never seen her like that,” Harouch said of the Kardashian. “She kept screaming and saying, ‘We need to get out of here. We need help. What will we do if they come back?” ”
The attack has led the entertainment industry to adopt new steps on security and social media posts, including the delayed publication of certain images that help robbers identify targets and locations.
However, some critics have denounced the Kardashian for his gorgeous lifestyle and lack of security at hand. Controversial fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld, for example, was quoted by Reuters as questioning the Kardashian habit of posting photos of himself on social media.
“Don’t be surprised that some people want to show their wealth and share it with you,” the late designer said.
Such commentary sparks a backlash of itself, and some blame it as a victim’s condemnation. Still, Paris Judge David Des Path asked officials if they were targeting themselves.
“Just because a woman is wearing jewelry, it doesn’t target her,” Harouch said. “It’s like saying that women are wearing short skirts that deserve rape.”
Kardashian added that she has a bodyguard in another hotel. “If we were in the hotel, I thought it would have been safe and secure,” she said.
She added that she now has five or six security guards around her. She also condemned the Paris attacks for urging copycat robbers at her Los Angeles home.
“I’ve started to get this phobia of going out,” Kardashian said. “This experience really changed everything for us.”
Tuesday’s appearance is expected to be the only time Kardashian testify in a criminal case. This includes nine men and one woman.
Five men face accusations of armed robbery and lures, which could lead to life sentences. Others face less accusations of being an accomplice or possessing an unauthorized firearm.
Prosecutors say the group’s mastermind was a 69-year-old man named AOMAR AIT KHEDACHE, known as “Omar the Old.” He wrote an apology letter that was read out loud in the court.
“I certainly appreciate the letter. I will forgive you,” replied Kardashian looking at Khedache. “But it doesn’t change the emotions, trauma and the fact that my life has changed forever, but I appreciate the letter, thank you.”