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Four men have been found guilty of breaking into a luxury residence in Paris and stealing jewellery worth millions of euros from the American reality TV star Kim Kardashian when she attended fashion week in 2016.
Three pensioners and one man in his 30s were convicted of carrying out the armed heist, which was thought to be the biggest robbery of an individual in France in 20 years. Four other people were found guilty of assisting in the plot or related charges. Two people were acquitted of accusations they handed out information about Kardashian’s whereabouts.
The armed, masked men who were dressed in police jackets, arrived by bike or on foot just before 3am on 3 October 2016 at Kardashian’s exclusive building near Paris’s Place de la Concorde, known as a “no address” site, where celebrities often rent sumptuous suites.
They held a receptionist at gunpoint and then went up to Kardashian’s room where they held her hostage with a gun, tying her hands and feet and taping her mouth. They escaped with jewellery worth up to an estimated €10m. The jewels, which were never found, included a 18.88-carat diamond engagement ring given to Kardashian by her then husband, the rapper Kanye West, estimated to be worth £3m.
The leaders of the gang, aged in their 60s and 70s, were nicknamed the “grandpa robbers” by French media. But the state prosecutor, Anne-Dominique Merville, had told jurors not to be fooled by their age or “reassuring wrinkles”, saying they were seasoned criminals with long track records and previous prison sentences.
Aomar Aït Khedache, 68, a retired restaurant owner alleged to have masterminded the robbery, was handed the heaviest sentence of three years in prison plus five years suspended, but due to time already served in jail he will not return to detention. For the same reason, none of the convicted men were sent to prison.
The court heard Aït Kadeche ‘“gave orders”, recruited others and travelled to Belgium to sell the jewellery. He is now deaf and cannot speak, so he read the court’s questions on a typed transcript, writing his answers with a pen and paper, projected on to a screen. “I ask for forgiveness. I can’t find the words. I am very sorry,” he wrote as the trial ended.
Didier Dubreucq, 69, was found guilty as well as Yunice Abbas, 71, who admitted to arriving at the scene with two accomplices on bicycles to “keep watch”. Abbas had told the court: “All I have to offer you is regret. I’m sorry.” Marc-Alexandre Boyer, the youngest member of the group, now in his 30s, was also convicted.
In a statement after the verdict, Kardashian said she was “satisfied” with the verdict, adding that she was “deeply grateful to the French authorities for pursuing justice.”
More details soon…
