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A hotel receptionist who was held at gunpoint while Kim Kardashian was robbed in Paris in 2016 has told a court that the US influencer was in a state of “serious terror” when armed men entered her suite.
Abderrahmane Ouatiki, 48, who was handcuffed and forced at gunpoint to lead two armed robbers to Kardashian’s hotel room, said: “She was terrified, in a state of hysteria.”
Ouatiki said that when the hooded, armed men burst into Kardashian’s bedroom, she began shouting in English that she was a mother. “She was in serious terror; it was unbearable to see a woman in that type of distress,” he told the Paris court.
A group of pensioners nicknamed the “grandpa robbers” by French media are on trial in Paris charged with stealing jewels worth millions of euros from the American reality TV star when she was in the French capital for fashion week in 2016.
In perhaps the biggest robbery of an individual in France in 20 years, Kardashian was tied up and held hostage at gunpoint in her bedroom by men dressed as police officers in the early hours of 3 October 2016. They escaped with up to an estimated €10m (£8.4m) in jewellery, including a 18.88-carat diamond engagement ring given to Kardashian by her then husband, the rapper Kanye West, estimated to be worth $4m (£3.4m).
Ouatiki, who is Algerian, said he was working as a night receptionist to fund himself as he completed a Sorbonne University PhD thesis on the semiotics of extremist discourse. He was alone that night at the reception desk of an exclusive apartment building in central Paris, known as a “no address” site, where celebrities visiting Paris often rented sumptuous suites.
Ouatiki said that after 2am he saw three masked men “with police jackets on” approach the glass door to reception and gesture to him to open up. Thinking they were police officers, he opened the door.
“They pushed me to my knees and said: ‘We’re here for the money’,” he told the court. He said they handcuffed him, showed him an automatic pistol and held another gun to his neck as they asked him: “Where is the rapper’s wife?” He knew that meant Kardashian.
The robbers held a gun to Ouatiki and took him in the lift with them to Kardashian’s apartment, he told the court. As they approached her bedroom, Ouatiki said Kardashian called out “Hello? Hello?” thinking it might be her sister Kourtney Kardashian returning from a nightclub.
He said the robbers burst into the room and roughly pushed Kardashian.
Ouatiki said she was shouting and hysterical. Fearing the lead robber was “very nervous, unstable, aggressive”, Ouatiki said he felt he had to “calm things down and contain it” so he shouted at Kardashian to “shut up!”.
He said she was shocked but it had an effect. He said the robbers spoke no English but were asking in French for money. Ouatiki, still with a gun to him, tried to translate. Kardashian said she had “a thousand” – either in dollars or euros. He said she gave the robbers the ring that was on a bedside table. She then nodded towards a Louis Vuitton jewellery box, the robbers allegedly opened it and poured its contents into two bags.
Kardashian was roughly pushed on to the bed by the lead robber who tied her hands and feet and put black tape over her mouth, Ouatiki said.
Asked by the judge if the robbers would have seen Kardashian’s nudity under her towelling hotel robe, Ouatiki said: “Yes, when they pushed her on to the bed.” He said the robber then dragged Kardashian to a bathroom and left her there, tied up.
The lead judge asked Ouatiki if he thought Kardashian feared she would die. He said: “Yes.” He said he also feared he would die.
Ten suspects, whose ages range from 35 to 78, are on trial until 23 May. Some are accused of aiding in the organisation of the robbery. Eight of the accused deny any involvement.
Kardashian, 44, will testify on Tuesday.
