Kim Kardashian has told a court she feared she would be raped and killed during an armed robbery in her Paris hotel room in 2016.
The 44-year-old media personality and businesswoman was tearful as she told the judge: “I was certain he [one of the robbers] was going to rape me.”
“I absolutely did think I was going to die,” she added.
“I said a prayer for my family, and for my sister who would walk in [and find me] and that they would have an okay life after what they saw.”
Kardashian faced a group of 10 defendants – dubbed the ‘grandpa robbers’ by French media – who are accused of robbing her at gunpoint in the Hotel de Pourtales in the French capital in October 2016.
She told the court how one of the robbers pulled her across the bed, exposing her naked body under her hotel robe as he tied her up.
She also told the court of her “violation”, explaining she was “grabbed and tied up… dragged from one room to the other”, and calling the whole thing “a violent act”.
Kardashian explained: “Being touched and picked up when you’re naked is very violating”.
Additionally, in a bizarre turn of events in the courtroom, three of the defendants offered messages to Kardashian – two in person and one via a written note. Kardashian had no knowledge of the letter until it was read in court and she tearfully said she forgave one of the robbers.
Earlier, Kardashian, wearing a black skirt suit, sunglasses, and with her hair pulled back into a chignon, walked up the court steps accompanied by her mother Kris and a large entourage.
Giving evidence, she became tearful when describing the robbery, and talking of her “confusion” when two men entered her room dressed as police officers, accompanied by the handcuffed concierge.
“I had fallen asleep naked with a robe on, I was flustered,” Kardashian told the court.
‘From fatherly to aggressive’
Describing the man who tied her up, who she says was “smaller and stockier” than the second man with the gun, Kardashian said: “I feel like because the guy who tied me up could see how frantic I was, at that moment he felt like a father… It felt like he wanted me to know that I’d be okay if I just shut up.”
She told the court: “I kept telling them I have babies and I need to get home to my babies.”
But, after the men began arguing in French, the previously “fatherly” man went from saying she’d be okay, “to aggressively grabbing my naked body”.
Asked by the judge if she was hit at any point, Kardashian said: “No, I was not hit. I was picked up and dragged and dropped on the hard floor, but I was not hit.” She later confirmed she was dragged by her arms, with both her ankles and wrists bound together, and with a gun held towards her neck.
Police say the men escaped on bicycles, with around $9m of jewellery, including a $4m engagement ring from Kardashian’s then-husband Kanye West. Most of the jewellery was never recovered.
‘Your forgiveness is a sun – I’ll be forever grateful’
During her evidence, the judge read a statement to Kardashian written by one of the defendants, Aomar Ait Khedache, 68, nicknamed “Old Omar” – in which he said he “regretted” his actions and had been touched by his conscience. He has so far communicated in court only via handwritten notes, saying he was too unwell to talk.
He has previously admitted to participating in the heist but denies the prosecution’s accusation that he was the ringleader.
When asked by the judge if she had a response, Kardashian said: “I’m obviously emotional about it, this experience changed my life and it changed my family’s life”.
Currently in training to be a lawyer, and a vocal criminal justice reform advocate, she said: “I have always believed in second chances… I try to have empathy always.”
She went on: “I do appreciate the letter, I forgive you for what has taken place, but it doesn’t change the emotion and the feelings and the trauma the way my life is forever changed.” She thanked him for his letter.
Ait Khedache’s lawyer shared his response to Kardashian’s words, saying: “This forgiveness is a sun that comes to illuminate me, thank you.” He added: “I’ll be grateful to you forever”.
The judge then spoke to two defendants in the courtroom, starting with Yunice Abbas, 71, who has previously admitted his part in the heist.
Abbas stood and spoke directly to Kardashian, his right hand shaking from Parkinson’s as he talked, asking for “forgiveness” and saying he too had “regret” for what he did.
A third defendant, Didier Dubreucq, 69, dubbed “blue eyes” by French press, also briefly spoke and offered a few contrite words, saying, “I am very sorry about what happened to you”, adding, ” I empathise with your pain”.