Defendants ask forgiveness ahead of Kardashian robbery verdict / Photo: © AFP/File
Defendants ask forgiveness ahead of Kardashian robbery verdict
Defendants accused of stealing $10 million in jewellery from reality TV star Kim Kardashian in Paris in 2016 asked for forgiveness Friday as the court prepared to deliver its verdict.
Nine men and one woman have been standing trial since April, with prosecutors seeking the toughest jail terms -- 10 years -- for the four men accused of carrying out the robbery.
Kardashian, then 35, was robbed while staying at an exclusive hotel in the French capital on the night of October 2-3, 2016.
She was threatened with a gun to the head and tied up, with her mouth taped.
Aomar Ait Khedache, 69, accused of being the ringleader, begged to be forgiven in his final statement ahead of sentencing.
Khedache is now virtually mute and completely deaf, and his statement was read out by his lawyer.
Known as "Old Omar", Khedache has admitted to tying up Kardashian but denies being the robbery mastermind.
"I ask for forgiveness. I can't find the words. I am very sorry," he wrote, asking for "a thousand pardons" from his son Harminy, who allegedly drove him and two accomplices the night of the theft and is also on trial.
"All I have to offer you is regret. I am sorry. I take responsibility for what I have done," said Yunice Abbas, another of the four men risking 10 years in prison.
Others took a different tack, using the opportunity to reassert their innocence.
"I never, ever took part in the jewellery theft," said a lawyer, reading a statement on behalf of Didier Dubreucq, another of the four.
- 'Grandpa robbers' -
Most of the stolen valuables were never recovered, including a diamond ring given to Kardashian by her then-husband, rapper Kanye West.
The ring alone was valued at 3.5 million euros ($3.9 million).
The robbery was the biggest against a private individual in France in 20 years.
Most of the accused are now in their 60s and 70s and have been dubbed the "Grandpa robbers" by French media.
They have underworld nicknames like "Old Omar" and "Blue Eyes" that resemble those of old-school French bandits of 1960s and 1970s films noirs.
But making the sentencing demands earlier this week, the prosecutor urged the judges and jury to remember that Kardashian was targeted by a violent attack and not to be "taken in" by the "wrinkles" of the defendants.
The American star testified at the trial last week, wearing a diamond necklace valued at $3 million, according to its New York-based creator Samer Halimeh.
Kardashian said she feared she would be raped and killed by the masked men who held her at gunpoint.
"I thought I was going to die," said Kardashian, who is among the world's most followed people on Instagram and X.
The trial has attracted huge media attention and crowds have flocked around the court in Paris's historic Ile de la Cite area hoping for a glimpse of the celebrity.
The verdict is expected in the evening.
- 'I forgive you' -
During the trial, Kardashian told the court she forgave Khedache after hearing a letter of apology from him.
"I forgive you for what has taken place but it does not change the emotion, the feelings, the trauma and the way my life changed," she told Khedache.
None of the defendants are currently in detention and, even if convicted, their lawyers' main aim will be to prevent their elderly clients going back to prison.
Khedache's lawyer argued on Thursday: "At that age, a prison sentence is life imprisonment."
Kardashian, sometimes described as "famous for being famous", became well known in the early 2000s through TV reality shows, before launching fashion brands and appearing in films.
(L.Møller--DTZ)
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