Kim Kardashian once described Paris as a city of romance, fashion and midnight walks. “It was magical,” she told a Paris courtroom this week. “I’d stop in little hotels for hot chocolate. I always felt really safe.”
But on Tuesday, nearly a decade after she was bound, gagged, and held at gunpoint inside a discreet luxury residence during Fashion Week in 2016, Kardashian returned to the French capital – this time, not as a celebrity guest but as a witness in one of the most high-profile criminal cases France has seen in years.
Kardashian, 44, delivered raw and emotional testimony before a panel of judges at the Palais de Justice. Ten people, dubbed the “grandpa gang” by French media, are on trial for their alleged roles in the armed robbery that stunned the fashion world and helped reshape the way celebrities think about privacy and security.
“I absolutely did think I was going to die,” Kardashian said, recalling the early morning hours of October 3, 2016. She had just returned to her hotel suite, dressed in a robe and ready to sleep, when masked men dressed as police officers forced their way in, dragging with them the hotel’s night concierge, who had been handcuffed and threatened at gunpoint.
The intruders demanded her jewellery – an estimated $10 million worth, including a 20-carat diamond engagement ring given to her by then-husband Kanye West – and tied her hands and feet with zip ties. At one point, a gun was pressed against her back. Another robber grabbed her by the neck.
Kardashian said she feared not just for her life, but that she might be raped. “Everything was exposed… I was certain that was the moment he was going to rape me. I said a prayer. Then he closed my legs and ended up tying them.” She said she worried that her sister, Kourtney, would come home and discover her body.
She described whispering to the concierge, begging him to translate her pleas. “I have babies. I need to make it home.”
The night concierge, Abderrahmane Ouatiki, also testified, describing Kardashian’s terror as “unbearable to witness.” The robbers, he said, were volatile and impatient. “She was in serious terror; it was unbearable to see a woman in that state.”
How the 2016 Paris Robbery Transformed Kim Kardashian’s Approach to Safety and Privacy
Kardashian’s testimony was not just an account of one night but a reflection on how that night reshaped her life. She now travels with a full security detail. Jewellery is sent to separate locations rather than brought home. If she hears footsteps on stairs and there’s no response when she calls out, she says she panics. “That moment comes flooding back.”
“I try to be strong and protective,” she told the court, “even if it’s excessive or ridiculous to other people. That’s what I need to feel safe.”
“I Thought I Was Going to Die”. Kim Kardashian’s Emotional Courtroom Testimony
In a surprising moment, Kardashian wept as the court read aloud a letter of apology from one of the robbers, Aomar Ait Khedache, now 68, who expressed regret for his role. “I forgive you,” Kardashian said, though she added, “it doesn’t change the trauma or how my life has been forever changed.”
Kardashian, who has since become active in criminal justice reform, said she believes in second chances, but urged the court not to minimise the impact of the crime simply because the accused are older today. “It was almost a decade ago,” she said. “They were obviously a lot younger and stronger. It’s frustrating that they’re called the ‘grandpa gang’ – that’s not what it felt like.”
