Kim Kardashian robbery trial: verdict expected in Paris

PARIS — The veteran gangster who held Kim Kardashian at gunpoint and left her fearing for her life offered “a thousand pardons” in court Friday.

Aomar Aït Khedache, 69, pleaded for forgiveness just before a Paris jury retired to deliberate. Though prosecutors say he masterminded the 2016 robbery, Khedache denies planning it—blaming a mysterious figure he called “X” or “Ben,” whom authorities say doesn’t exist.

He’s one of 10 defendants — on trial at Paris’ Assises court, face charges including armed robbery and kidnapping by an organized gang.

Most of the accused are now in their 60s and 70s and have been dubbed the “Grandpa robbers” by French media. 

Alleged mastermind Khedache is now completely deaf and had to read the court’s instructions on a screen.

The gang, arrived on foot and by bicycle, disguised as police officers, to trick the doorman at Kardashian’s luxury apartment during Paris Fashion Week in October 2016.

One of them, 71-year-old Yunice Abbas, has already written a book about the heist. He had previously served 20 years for burglary.

“I told myself this was the last time,” Abbas said in a TV interview. “But a 20-karat diamond with no protection? That was tempting.” He admitted he didn’t know who Kardashian was — only that she was “the wife of a rapper.”

But the ring was famous: Kardashian had shown it off to her 300 million Instagram followers.

The job was sloppy. Abbas’ getaway bike got a flat tire and his bag of jewels ripped open in the street. A $24,000 diamond cross necklace fell into a gutter and was found the next day by a passerby — who wore it for a while before turning it in.

The bungling gang left DNA all over the scene. They used tape and Velcro to restrain Kardashian and were caught within four months.

“It might sound funny,” said Mohand Ouidja, lawyer for the traumatized doorman, “but this was armed robbery, violence, and bondage. It’s serious — regardless of the robbers’ age.”

Kardashian called it the worst night of her life. Her $4 million diamond ring was never recovered.

The two month trial at a courthouse in Paris’s historic Ile de la Cité area has attracted huge media attention. Crowds flocked during Kardashian’s brief appearance in May, hoping for a glimpse of the celebrity. Prosecutors have requested 10-year jail terms for the four men accused of carrying out the robbery. 

The defendants’ lawyers urged the jury to spare their ageing clients from prison, arguing that it would amount to a life sentence. 

Though the incident changed her life, Kardashian says she has forgiven the thieves.

“I believe in second chances,” she told her 300 plus million Instagram followers.