Billionaire star Kim Kardashian tearfully said she feared she would be murdered and raped when robbers held her at gunpoint and stole $10 million worth of jewelry from her Paris hotel room in 2016, on May 13.
"I absolutely thought I was going to die," Kim Kardashian tearfully recalled the horrific robbery nine years ago, according to USA Today. "I thought about my sister, that she was going to walk in and see me shot, and that would haunt her forever."
During a court hearing in Paris on May 13, Kim recounted the entire scene of how she was tied up and robbed while alone in a hotel room while her sister Kourtney Kardashian and her bodyguards went out for the night. The robbers, dressed as police officers, broke into Kim's room, held her at gunpoint, and demanded her $4 million diamond ring.
The American reality TV star recalled: "I was panicking, just looking at the (overpowered) doorman and saying: 'What's going to happen to us, I have to go home to my kids?'" Kim said she feared she was going to be raped when the robbers threw her on the bed and one of them grabbed her legs. But the robbers eventually tied Kim up and gagged her with black tape.
Kim's stylist, Simone Harouche, was also in the same hotel suite but in a different room than. Testifying in court, Simone cried and said she heard Kim scream: "I have a baby and I need to live. Take everything." The stylist said she had never seen Kim panic like that. At that time, Simone locked the bathroom door and texted Kourtney Kardashian and her bodyguard.
Kim Kardashian and the stylist both said the incident left them traumatized, requiring therapy and haunted by fear for years. Always in a state of insecurity, Kim revealed that she still hires 4 to 6 bodyguards to guard her home in California every night. When she goes to Paris for work, she never dares to sleep overnight.
At the trial, the leader of the gang, Aomar Ait Khedache (69 years old, nicknamed Old Omar), gave Kim Kardashian a letter asking for forgiveness. The letter said Aomar saw Kardashian's tears on TV and expressed regret. Kim surprised everyone when she stood up and said: "I really appreciate this letter, I forgive you for what happened, but it doesn't change the emotions, feelings, and psychological trauma that changed my life forever".
A recent law school graduate, Kardashian explained that she spent a lot of time in prison talking to inmates. "I really believe in second chances and I really believe in redemption," she said.
Ten suspects, including nine men and one woman, are on trial in connection with the Kim Kardashian jewelry heist. Five face charges of armed robbery and kidnapping, which could result in life in prison. Others are accused of being an accessory to the heist or possessing a weapon.
The robbers made off with all of the jewelry that Kardashian brought with her to Paris for Fashion Week, worth an estimated $10 million, according to E! News. While escaping by bike and on foot, they dropped some of the jewelry, including a six-diamond cross that a passerby later picked up and turned over to police. The rest of the jewelry, including Kim's engagement ring, was stolen.