Online Reporter
PARIS. — Kim Kardashian has forgiven the man suspected of masterminding the US$10 million Paris jewellery heist which left her fearing for her life after she was bound, gagged and threatened with a gun.
The American socialite and reality television star of ‘Keeping Up With The Kardashians’ accepted a written apology from Aomar Aït Khedache who said he was sorry for the pain he had caused her and her loved ones.
The highly-charged moment in the Palais de Justice came as Kardashian returned to the French capital to give evidence in a trial of alleged ‘grandpa gang’ of robbers who targeted her at her luxury hotel suite during Paris Fashion Week in 2016. In emotional courtroom scenes, Kardashian said she feared she would be raped and killed when two men she thought were police officers burst into her apartment to steal her expensive jewellery.
She walked into the courtroom wearing a striking low cut suit jacket with padded shoulders and a tight ankle-length skirt – her PR representative tells me she’s wearing John Galliano.
But it’s really her sparkling jewellery that everybody noticed first.
She was wearing a shiny, imposing necklace and a large diamond ring which looks very similar to the US$4m piece gifted to her by then-husband Kanye West in 2016, and which the defendants in court today were accused of stealing and selling.
Kardashian’s lawyer Hennerick asked her if she feared for her life during the robbery.
“Yes, that was the only time I ever felt that way,” Kardashian responds.
Responding to her lawyer who asked her about the book, “I Held Up Kim Kardashian”, written by co-defendant Yunice Abbas, Kardashian told the court: “I honestly was really shocked when I saw there was a book.
“Not only did he do this, but now [he’s] making money off that – my jewellery, my memories, the watch my dad who passed away gave me when I graduated high school. I can’t get that back. “It wasn’t just jewellery… someone took away my memories, and now he is capitalising by writing a book? It didn’t seem fair to me.”
Another lawyer asked how have the events impacted her lifestyle and security.
“I have had to change my life…if someone was coming up the stairs and I called out to them and they didn’t reply I’d start crying because it reminded me of that time,” she said.
“Other than that I try to be just strong and protective and I have a lot of security around my house — even if it’s excessive or ridiculous to other people, that’s what I need to feel safe and sleep and I’m OK with that.
“I just finished law school. I spend a lot of time in prisons meeting with people who have committed crimes.
“So I am empathetic towards people who have committed crimes and their families. I really do believe in second chances and rehabilitation and I work in the justice system to help provide those rehabilitation experiences.”
Kardashian said she has gone through “extensive therapy recently” to understand this more.
“I realised that a lot of people’s trauma response is to be calm and that will save you and protect you and so I have a better understanding now… of other people’s responses.” — Mailonline/BBC
Mathew Masinge