One of the suspects in the armed theft of fact TV superstar Kim Kardashian stated he regrets the “trauma” he brought about her just about 9 years after Kardashian was once sure, gagged and robbed at gunpoint throughout Paris Fashion Week in October 2016.
The theft was once thought to be the largest heist concentrated on a person that Paris had observed in a long time. The jury of six electorate will behavior the trial, in conjunction with 3 magistrates — a process in France reserved for essentially the most critical crimes.
Defendant Yunice Abbas stated this was once the primary time he in reality known the “trauma” he brought about Kardashian, because the trial started Tuesday within the court cases towards 10 other folks charged in reference to the 2016 theft, the place greater than US$10 million price of jewellery was once stolen.
“I regret it, not because I got caught, but because … there was a trauma,” Abbas, 72, advised the jury.
Defendant Yunice Abbas arrives for the beginning of the trial for the 2016 theft and kidnapping of U.S. superstar Kim Kardashian on the Assize Court of Paris, on April 28, 2025.
MAGALI COHEN/Hans Lucas/AFP by means of Getty Images
Abbas was once the primary of a number of defendants set to testify within the trial and had prior to now confessed to his function within the crime in his 2021 e-book, titled I Kidnapped Kim Kardashian, which got here up throughout the testimony.
He claimed that he was once now not liable for the name of the e-book and he stated he was once now not all in favour of tying up Kardashian throughout the theft, consistent with NBC News.
Abbas stated he acted as a lookout on the reception house at the flooring ground, making sure the get away course was once transparent. He stated he was once unarmed and didn’t in my view threaten Kardashian, however stated he shared duty for the crime.
He was once arrested in January 2017 and spent 21 months in jail prior to being launched beneath judicial supervision. Abbas and 9 others, referred to as the “grandpa robbers” in native media because of their ages, are purported to have performed other roles within the heist.
According to Abbas, mins after the raid began, his accomplices got here down from Kardashian’s condo and gave him a bag of jewellery.
As he was once fleeing the scene on a bicycle, he noticed a police automotive, however officials weren’t but acutely aware of the theft. Abbas stated that as he rode the bicycle, the bag containing the jewellery turned into stuck within the entrance wheel and he fell to the bottom, spilling the contents of the bag.
“I picked the jewels up and left,” he stated.
The following morning, a passerby discovered a diamond-encrusted go on the street and passed it to police. That was once the one jewellery from the theft that was once ever recovered.
Abbas claimed he didn’t know Kardashian’s id on the time of the theft.
“I was told about a famous person, a rapper’s wife. That’s all the information I had,” he stated. “Until the next morning, when I heard on TV about the influencer. That’s when I understood who she was.”

During wondering on Tuesday, Abbas spoke about his prison previous, together with an armed theft of a financial institution in Belgium. He stated that after he was once more youthful, he was once adversarial to robbery however later became to a lifetime of crime because of the dangerous influences of pals and cash difficulties.
He stated he “never had a role model” and had accomplished what he believed he had to do so as to supply for his kids.

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In the years following the theft, Abbas stated he now felt “very uneasy” about what happened that day, including, “I can’t do anything besides apologize.”
In her account to investigators, Kardashian described two males forcing their approach into her bed room at a personal condo advanced in Paris and pointing a gun against her, soliciting for her ring. She stated she was once tied up with plastic cables and tape whilst the intruders have been searching for jewels, together with her engagement ring price tens of millions of greenbacks.
Twelve other folks have been firstly anticipated within the defendants’ field. One has died and some other is critically unwell and will’t be attempted. According to the investigation, 5 of the 10 defendants have been provide on the scene of the theft.
Others anticipated to face trial come with the alleged ringleader, 68-year-old Aomar Aït Khedache; his son Harminy, 37, who’s accused of being the getaway driving force; Didier Dubreucq, 69, referred to as “Blue Eyes,” who’s the second one alleged robber suspected of coming into the flat; and Christiane Glotin, 78, who is predicted to face trial as an partner within the heist.
This court docket cartoon made on April 28, 2025 presentations defendants Aomar Ait Khedache (C, entrance), Francois Delaporte (R, up), Florus Heroui (2d R, up) and Christiane Glotin (4th T, up) throughout the trial for the 2016 theft and kidnapping of U.S. superstar Kim Kardashian on the Assize Court of Paris, on April 28, 2025.
BENOIT PEYRUCQ/AFP by means of Getty Images
The brother of Kardashian’s driving force in Paris, Gary Madar, 35, may be anticipated to face trial. He is accused of tipping the others off to Kardashian’s location.
Defendant Gary Madar throughout the trial for the 2016 theft and kidnapping of U.S. superstar Kim Kardashian on the Assize Court of Paris, on April 28, 2025.
MAGALI COHEN/Hans Lucas/AFP by means of Getty Images
Kardashian, 44, is predicted to testify in particular person on the trial, scheduled to run thru May 23. Her attorneys stated she is going to testify in particular person and is predicted to talk on May 13.
“Ms. Kardashian is reserving her testimony for the court and jury and does not wish to elaborate further at this time,” they stated. “She has great respect and admiration for the French justice system and has been treated with great respect by the French authorities.”
In interviews and on her circle of relatives’s fact TV display, she has described being terrified as robbers pointed a gun at her. She stated she concept she was once going to be raped and killed.

In March 2017 on Keeping Up With the Kardashians, the mummy of 4 theorized {that a} crew of fellows have been following her circle of relatives all the Paris commute and admitted she was once Snapchatting that evening, letting her fans know that everybody was once going out, together with her then-bodyguard Pascal Duvier, and that she could be by myself.
“What I think happened now after thinking about it so much is that there was probably a group of guys that were following us the entire trip. I was Snapchatting that I was home and everyone was going out.
“They had this window of opportunity and just went for it,” she stated.
She defined she was once falling asleep in her room when she heard pounding at the stairs. She concept it was once her sister Kourtney and her assistant Stephanie. She endured to name out “hello” with out getting any reaction.
“Then at that moment, when there wasn’t an answer, my heart started to get really tense, like your stomach just kind of like knots up, and you’re like, ‘OK, what’s going on?’” she stated. “I knew something wasn’t quite right.”
She advised her sisters what befell after the armed robbers entered.
“I saw two guys holding another guy down in police uniforms, right outside of my bedroom, five feet away. So I slid off my bed and picked up my phone, and I’m like, ‘I don’t know how to call 911 in a different country.’ So I called Pascal and then the guy came in, grabbed the phone from me, and threw me on the bed. I was like, ‘This is it.’”
She says she known the concierge, who was once handcuffed, retaining the important thing to her room.
“What I heard from talking to [the concierge] afterward, they said, ‘Where’s the rapper’s wife? Let us up to her room,’” she stated.
“He grabbed my legs — I had no clothes on under there — and he pulled me towards him at the front of the bed and I thought, ‘OK, this is the moment he’s going to rape me,’” the Skims founder stated throughout her interview.
“I fully mentally prepped myself and he didn’t. He duct taped my legs together and then they had the gun up to me, I knew that was the moment they were totally going to shoot me in the head.”

Kardashian’s legal professional, Michael Rhodes, has stated the truth TV superstar and entrepreneur desires the trial “to proceed in an orderly fashion in accordance with French law and with respect for all parties to the case.”
— With information from The Associated Press