Kim Kardashian jewelry heist trial: Reality star 'thought I was going to die' as robbers held her at gunpoint

The court session concluded just after Kardashian first asked if she could sit down.

For most of the last five hours, Kardashian had been standing in heels while answering a barrage of lawyers' questions.

The judge permitted Kardashian to sit at the stand and reminded the attorneys to not repeat questions.

Kardashian appeared tired and was yawning just before the judge called the session to conclude.

Asked about the actions of the kidnapped concierge Abderrahmane Ouatiki, Kardashian said her view on his actions that night had changed.

Ouatiki's lawyer Henri De Beauregard said that in previous comments, Kardashian suggested that his kidnapping may have been staged because he was so calm during the ordeal.

But the reality star told the court that her views on the matter changed in therapy.

“Some people’s trauma response is to remain calm to protect themselves … I do believe he is a victim, I understand how never going through this before, you look at everyone trying to figure out who is involved, but now I understand he was trying to survive just like me — he was in it with me, not against me," she said.

In what appears to be an act of defiance, Kardashian walked into court wearing a large shiny necklace and and matching earrings, along with what appears to be a large diamond ring, similar to the one taken by the robbers.

Thomas Samson / AFP - Getty Images

For a period of time after the 2016 robbery, Kardashian stopped wearing real jewelry. It is unclear if the large stones the apparel mogul is sporting today were real diamonds or well-made fakes.

Pointing out that she has just finished law school, Kardashian said she has “spent a lot of time in prisons around people that committed crimes” and “I really do believe in second chances and believe in rehabilitation.”

“I work in the justice system to provide these rehabilitation chances,” she added.

Before the robbery, Kardashian said she would share security with her sister.

“My style in security is completely different now than it was back then,” she said, adding that a guard was present in each car. “We try to have security in all the rooms,” she added.

She added that she did not post to social media in real time anymore unless it was on a public schedule. “It has changed my business in that sense,” she said.

Kardashian has addressed false claims that she staged the robbery for her former reality show, “Keeping Up With The Kardashians.”

“It was really hard for me when people said I’d made it up for my TV show, I wasn’t filming my TV show,” she said. “It was really hurtful, that was something that really stung deeply.”

She added that she was "honestly was really shocked when I saw there was a book” about the robbery.

She added that as well as making money from her jewelry, the robbers had profited from memories, like the watch her father gave her when she graduated from high school.

The proceedings have started again after a brief break.

Resuming her testimony, Kardashian said some of the jewelry she posted pictures on social media of were among the pieces stolen.

Kardashian said she was surprised to see that the suspects were older when French investigators showed her images of them.

Nine men and a woman, most of whom are in their 70s, stand accused of robbing her at gunpoint in Paris nine years ago.

As a result French media has dubbed them the "grandpa robbers."

Defendant Marc Boyer during a break in hearings at the Palais de Justice today. Thomas Samson / AFP - Getty Images

One of the men accused of pointing a gun at Kardashian is 69-year-old Aomar Ait Khedache, who is deaf and mute. Another, Yunice Abbas, 71, wrote the book “I Held Up Kim Kardashian.”

In the intervening years between the robbery and the court case, one of the defendants has died and the Palais de Justice court said in a statement that one was unable to attend the hearing because of poor health.

After hearing Kardashian’s testimony for more than two hours, proceedings have been adjourned for a quick break.

A statement written by one of the defendants, Aomar Ait Khedache, was read out to the court by Judge De Pas.

Khedache, known as “Old Omar,” is mute and deaf and can only communicate only through handwritten notes due to his ill health.

Asking for Kardashian's forgiveness, the 69-year-old said, “I’m obviously emotional about it, this experience changed my life and it changed my family’s life.” 

Kardashian, who has been a strong advocate for criminal justice reform, replied that she has “always believed in second chances … I try to have empathy always … But I do also fight for victims who have been through horrific crimes and want to be heard and understood."

Judge De Pas asked Kardashian to recall an episode of her reality TV show, “Keeping Up With the Kardashians,” where she said she believed the burglars “saw on Snapchat” that she was alone.

“I think I was trying to figure out how [the robbers] found out” but that she later realized the Snapchat in which she had been talking about “staying in” was actually the night before." she said.

“I was staying in to get a spray tan as I was going to the Balenciaga show and I was wearing no makeup and so I wanted to get a spray tan,” she told the court.

But she said she “went back and watched the Snapchat and that was not the same night of this; it was the night before.”

Asked for her opinion on how the heist was carried out, Kardashian said she thought “it was well planned out.”

She said that the French magistrate told her the suspects wanted to attempt the robbery on her previous visit to Paris but decided against it because she was with her now ex-husband Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West.

Kim Kardashian and Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, in 2020. Ian West / PA Images via Getty Images

“That shocked me to find out they’d been trying to plan the attack for some time,” she added. 

After the robbers left, Kardashian said she hid outside on the balcony because she feared they might return, “maybe to kill us so there were no witnesses.”

“I’m not sure, it was just an instinct,” she said, adding, “I didn’t know what was in their mind, so I was not going to take any chances.”

The robbers probably took $1,000 in cash from her, Kardashian said.

"I didn't give it to them, I think they found it in my wallet," she said, adding that her wallet was eventually returned to her.

Kardashian said she thought one of the robbers “told me to shut up” when she asked if she was going to die, adding that he looked annoyed with her because she kept talking.

Kim Kardashian with two of her children, Chicago and North West, in 2022. Gotham / GC Images via Getty Images

“I kept telling them I have babies and I need to get home to my babies,” she added.

Asked by the presiding judge if she was assaulted or hit, Kardashian replied that she was not.

But she said she was “grabbed and dragged into the other room and dropped unto the floor.”

Judge De Pas then asked whether the weapon was only showed or directed at her.

“It was pointed towards me to get me to go from room to room, and then it was pointed to me when I was on my bed at the end,” she replied.

After going over her activities from earlier that day, the presiding judge asked her to describe the robbers in more detail, including their height and body shapes.

Kardashian replied that she thought about trying to remember their features, including the color of their eyes, “but it doesn’t work that way.”

“You start thinking about your family and it all goes out the door,” she said.

Asked by the presiding judge if she ever felt unsafe while alone in Paris before the robbery, Kardashian said that she “always” felt secure in the French capital.

“I could still go out to eat and go in the middle of the night without security, it’s not something I felt I needed before this trip,” she said.

Now she said she has between four and six security guards at her home in California during the night “just for me to feel safe.”

While she was waiting on the bathroom floor for the robbers to return, Kardashian said she “scooted over” to the sink and tried to rub the tape off her hands. Her ankles and mouth were still tied up, she said.

“I was able to get the hand tape off and then I hopped down to find Simone,” she said, referring to her childhood friend and stylist Simone Harouche who was staying on the floor below.

Harouche helped her cut off the zip ties, she said, adding that she could not have freed her ankles because she would have needed a pair of scissors.

Kris Jenner arriving at court in Paris today. Alain Jocard / AFP via Getty Images

While waiting for her sister Kourtney and her security to return, Kardashian said the pair hid in the bushes outside while she called her mom, Kris Jenner.

Kardashian said she prayed for her sister Kourtney, fearing that she would return to see a gruesome sight at the hotel, “that I would be dead on the bed, shot dead, and that should have this memory forever.”

Kim Kardashian at court in Paris this morning. Thomas Samson / AFP - Getty Images

When the presiding judge, David De Pas, asked she thought she was going to die the night of the robbery, she replied, “I absolutely thought I was going to die.”

Kardashian said one of the men put tape around her hands and mouth, while another held a gun up at her.

“He grabs by legs and pulls me,” she said, adding, “I’m naked and my everything is exposed.”

“I was sure that I was going to be raped,” she said.

Kardashian said she was “pretty hysterical” as one of the men pushed her onto her bed.

“I said to the concierge, ‘I have babies, tell them, I just have to make it home,’” she told the court.

But she said the concierge replied, “I don’t know, I don’t know if we’re going to die.”

Kardashian said she was in bed when she heard “stomping” outside. Men dressed as police officers then entered the room, she said,.

“They had a gentleman handcuffed and I recognized him as being the concierge from downstairs,” she said.

Plaintiff Abderrahmane Ouatiki at court in Paris today. Kiran Ridley / Getty Images

“I obviously was very confused when they walked in,” she said, adding that she kept asking the concierge, “What’s happening? What’s happening?”

“I understand how shocked he was and he was just a victim just like me,” she said.

Kardashian began by telling the court that her trip to Paris in 2016 “changed everything” she used to love about the city. She recalled feeling safe in the French capital, even wandering the streets when she would wake up in the early hours.

Packing up to leave the next morning, and ready to go to bed at around 3 a.m., she said she heard noises coming from downstairs. Two men she believed to be police officers came into her room, she added.

Kardashian, wearing a black suit with a long skirt and her hair in an up-do, has been called by the presiding judge, David De Pas, to the witness stand.

It will be the first time she has faced the alleged assailants since the night of the robbery.

Inside the courtroom, Kardashian sat in the civil parties’ box next to Simone Harouche, her childhood friend who testified earlier today.

A sketch of Simone Harouche in court today. Benoit Peyrucq / AFP via Getty Images

The courtroom is still quite quiet following the lunch break.

Kim Kardashian has arrived at the Palais de Justice where she will give evidence today.

00:43

She was joined by her mom, Kris Jenner. Both were wearing sunglasses.

Kim Kardashian is expected to arrive at court any moment now. Several news agencies including Reuters are filming a convoy of Mercedes vehicles as they make their way through Paris.

It wasn't just fans who arrived early to line up for the court. Among those in the crowd was MJ Corey, a writer from New York.

"I am here because I am actually writing a book about the Kardashians and I feel like this is a great opportunity to kind of fortify my book with a first hand experience of Kim Kardashian testifying in a court room," she said.

When she arrived at 5 a.m. local time (10 p.m. ET), she said, adding that she was visiting the French capital for other reasons "but it was all too perfect that this was happening while I was here."

In a moment of drama shortly before the hearing was adjourned, one of the defendants, Aomar Ait Khedache, asked the judge whether he can pass Harouche a message as her testimony ends.

“I won’t ask you to forgive me it would be too easy, things are confused in my mind,” the message from Khedache, who is deaf and mute, read. It was displayed on the screen after a bit of technical wrangling.

Defendant Aomar Ait Khedache in Paris on April 28. Tom Nicholson / Getty Images

“I can’t find the words. Please know that if there was a hole I would jump in it,” he added.

Harouche is asked whether she has a response to this: she does not.

The hearing has now been adjourned until 1:30 p.m. local time (7:30 a.m. ET)

Security forces stand guard outside the Assize Court in Paris today. Alain Jocard / AFP via Getty Images

Harouche is now being questioned by lawyers for some of the defendants.

Arthur Vercken is representing Gary Madar, who is suspected of handing over information about Kardashian's whereabouts. He asking the ex-stylist whether their location could have been truly secure when there were hundreds of paparazzi outside. "There are always going to be paparazzi," Harouche said.

Arthur Vercken today. Bertrand Guay / AFP via Getty Images

Next, Gabriel Dumenil, lawyer for Yunice Abbas, is grilling her on how she can be so sure about the timeline. She says she looked back at her messages.

He then asked her whether it was in fact true that Kardashian came to find her. Harouche replied that Kardashian is, the kind of person who helps people. By contrast she saidthat she is the person to "hide."

Kardashian’s then-stylist has told the court how the incident in 2016 made her quit her job and become an interior designer.

She said she became “very fearful,” that she didn’t want to work with celebrities, and that she “went to therapy for post traumatic stress and still to this day I am very sensitive to loud noise.”

Becoming emotional, she said that returning to the United States from Paris in 2016 she cried the whole flight back. She remembers thinking of the stranger next to her “this woman must think I was crazy.”

The robbery “changed her life forever,” Harouche said, adding that Kardashian “now has a completely different lifestyle.”

Kim Kardashian in January 2017. starzfly/Bauer-Griffin / GC Images via Getty Images file

She added that the reality star cannot for anywhere without security anymore and had lost her sense of freedom.

In terms of her own life Harouche said that she did not want to work with celebrities or travel as much after the incident, so she changed profession and became an interior designer.

Presiding judge David De Pas asked Harouche whether she thought Kardashian posting pictures of her jewelry on social media made her a target. Harouche rejected the premise, saying that a woman wearing jewels shouldn't make her a target, no more than a woman wearing a short skirt means she deserves to be raped.

Asked about the family's only bodyguard accompanying sister Kourtney Kardashian while out in the French capital, Harouche said it was normal for celebrities in 2016 to stay at hotels without additional security. “She was very free at the time,” she said of Kim Kardashian.

Harouche described the moment she heard Kardashian coming downstairs in her bathrobe with her feet taped up, after the suspects had left.

“I had never seen her like that before,” the stylist said, adding Kardashian was screaming and suggested they might have to jump out of the window if the men returned. She said she feared that the star had been raped or violated.

After she called the family’s bodyguard, Pascal Duvier, he came back to the apartments, she said. “We can breath but even still we weren’t okay,” she told the court. “You are in shock from trauma.”

Kim Kardashian’s stylist has described the “terror” she heard in her childhood friend's voice on the night of the robbery.

Simone Harouche and Kim Kardashian @allisonstatter / Instagram

Simone Harouche said she went to sleep “and then I woke to a very different sound.”

Harouche explained that she had been friends with the reality TV star since they “were little girls, so when I heard this sound it was very different. It woke me out of my sleep.”

“It was a sound I never heard from Kim. It was terror. What I heard specifically was ‘I have babies and I need to live. Take everything I need to live.’” Harouche said, her voice becoming emotional.

Some fans of Kim Kardashian arrived at the courthouse early to make sure they could get a good spot in the courthouse.

Vincent Michoux, 23, said there were around three or four people in the line when he arrived at dawn.

“It’s a really big day for me if I can see her for the first time,” he said, adding that it was also a “a journey for her. So I’m just here for our supporting her.”

Tourists lining up to see the Court of Appeal at the Palais de Justice court had no idea that Kim Kardashian was likely to give evidence later.

Americans carrying maps and looking for Paris' iconic Notre Dame cathedral were wondering what the hustle and bustle was about.

Kim Kardashian will take the stand in a Paris courtroom on Tuesday to testify against a gang of 10 people known as the “grandpa robbers” who are accused of stealing jewelry worth $9 million at gunpoint from her in one of the most audacious celebrity heists in modern French history. 

Arthur Vercken, lawyer of Gary Madar, speaks to the media this morning at the Court of Appeal of Paris. Gonzalo Fuentes / REUTERS

Almost nine years after the break-in at the reality star turned business mogul’s luxury suite at the Hôtel de Pourtalès, an anonymous-looking building known as “No Address” frequented by A-list celebrities, the reality star will face the suspects accused of armed robbery, kidnapping and other criminal charges.

Dubbed the “grandpa robbers” by French media because of their ages, the suspects allegedly posed as police officers before they overpowered the concierge, who was forced to act as a translator as they tied Kardashian up in the bedroom of the luxury suite. 

Months after the robbery made headlines, Kardashian talked about the incident during a season 13 episode of E!’s “Keeping Up With the Kardashians.” 

Read the full the story here.