'Grandpa robbers' face trial in Paris over Kim Kardashian jewellery heist
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 $4m (R74.7m) 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. 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 before the trial.
'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.'
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 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 (R319,184) a night.
One of the accused, Yunice Abbas, 71, has admitted his participation in the robbery. He told French TV channel TF1 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 he had no idea it belonged to a celebrity billionaire.
The men fled on bicycles with an estimated $9m (R168.19m) 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 in January 2017.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
TimesLIVE
7 minutes ago
- TimesLIVE
Pregnant in Kyiv in wreckage of flat hit by Russian drone
Bohdana Zhupanyna planned to use the last two weeks of her pregnancy in Ukraine brushing up on parenting skills and preparing for the arrival of her daughter. Instead, the 30-year-old found herself sifting through the charred remains of her second-floor flat in Kyiv, wrecked in a Russian drone attack on July 21. 'I don't know what sort of fate this is, why this happens, for what reason,' she told Reuters, clutching her belly as daylight poured through a gaping hole into that was her living room. Around her, broken pieces of a couch and bed were clumsily stacked and once-sleek kitchen shelves were covered in shattered glass and dust. Ukrainians such as Zhupanyna have endured months of worsening Russian air strikes that have killed dozens and upended daily lives since peace talks broke down earlier this year. On Monday Russian forces unleashed a fresh wave of attacks involving hundreds of drones, wounding eight people in Kyiv, as it continued grinding forward on the battlefield.
Daily Maverick
2 hours ago
- Daily Maverick
Shaolin Temple's ‘CEO monk' probed for embezzlement, relations with women
Shi Yongxin, 59, previously a member of China's parliament, is 'suspected of criminal offences, misappropriating and embezzling project funds and the temple's assets,' the temple said in a statement, adding Shi is under joint investigation by multiple agencies. Shi could not immediately be reached for comment. The temple did not answer a call from Reuters. Nicknamed the 'CEO monk' and known for his commercial ambitions, Shi sought to capitalise on the monastery's fame during his decades-long tenure at Shaolin Temple, the fabled birthplace of kung fu and the setting for many martial arts films in the central Chinese province of Henan. Shi has 'seriously violated Buddhist precepts, maintained improper relationships with multiple women over a long period of time' and fathered at least one 'illegitimate' child, the temple said in its statement released on its social media account on Sunday. In a statement issued on Monday, the state-supervised Buddhist Association of China said it approved the revoking of Shi's ordination certificate, adding that his 'behaviours are extremely deplorable in nature, have seriously damaged the reputation of the Buddhist community and tarnished the image of monks.' In 2015, a letter circulated online accusing Shi of misconduct and improper sexual relations. The temple denied the allegations at the time. Shi, known as Liu Yingcheng before he became a monk in 1981, has overseen the temple since 1987 and became its abbot in 1999, the temple's website showed. In 2008, the temple opened an online store, offering a range of goods including shoes, tea, T-shirts, and a kung fu instruction manual for 9,999 yuan ($1,395). Its business ventures over the years also included book publishing, medicine, kung fu performances, film production, asset management and real estate. Shi posted daily on his social media account on Weibo with more than 882,000 followers. Shi was a delegate of China's rubber-stamp parliament, the National People's Congress, for around two decades until 2018. He has also been deputy head of China's Buddhist association. ($1 = 7.1685 Chinese yuan renminbi)
TimesLIVE
3 hours ago
- TimesLIVE
Islamic State-backed rebels kill 38 in attack on east DRC church
Islamic State-backed rebels killed 38 people on Sunday in an attack on a church in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), city officials said. The assault in Komanda, a city in the northeastern DRC, is believed to have been carried out by ADF rebels wielding guns and machetes, officials told Reuters. Jean Kato, an official in the city administration, said worshippers were taking part in a night mass when the rebels stormed the church in the early hours of Sunday morning. Thirty-eight people were dead, 15 injured and several others were still missing, officials said. Christophe Munyanderu, a human rights activist present at the scene in Komanda, said shots were heard overnight but people at first thought it was thieves. "The rebels mainly attacked Christians who were spending the night in the Catholic church," said Munyanderu. "Unfortunately these people were killed with machetes or bullets." The United Nations Organisation Stabilisation Mission in the DR Congo has condemned a recent resurgence in violence in the province where this attack happened.
