PARIS (AP) — One of many suspects within the armed theft of Kim Kardashian stated he plans to take accountability for his function within the 2016 high-profile heist and can apologize in court docket because the trial begins Monday in Paris.
Yunice Abbas, 71, who has publicly acknowledged his participation within the heist, is amongst 10 suspects dealing with costs together with armed theft and kidnapping.
“I will apologize,” Abbas informed The Related Press. “I mean it sincerely.”
Kardashian, 44, is anticipated to testify in individual on the trial scheduled to run via Could 23. In interviews and on her household’s actuality TV present, she has described being terrified as robbers pointed a gun at her to steal thousands and thousands of {dollars} value of bijou in an condominium the place she was staying for Paris Trend Week. She stated she thought she was going to be raped and killed.
Abbas stated he acted as a lookout on the reception space on the bottom ground, guaranteeing the escape route was clear. He stated he was unarmed and didn’t personally threaten Kardashian, however acknowledged he shared accountability for the crime.
He was arrested in January 2017 and he spent 21 months in jail earlier than being launched beneath judicial supervision. In 2021, he co-authored a French-language e-book titled “I Sequestered Kim Kardashian.”
Tied up with plastic cables and tape
In her account to investigators, Kardashian described two males forcing their approach into her bed room and pointing a gun in direction of her, asking for her ring. She stated she was tied up with plastic cables and tape whereas the intruders have been in search of jewels, together with her engagement ring value thousands and thousands of {dollars}.
In a 2020 look on David Letterman’s Netflix present, she tearfully recalled considering: “This is the time I’m going to get raped. I’m like, ‘What is happening? Are we gonna die? Just tell them I have children. I have babies, I have a husband, I have a family’.”
She informed investigators the boys introduced her within the rest room earlier than they ran off and she or he managed to free herself.
The residency’s concierge, held at gunpoint and compelled to guide the robbers to her condominium, additionally suffered psychological impression.
Investigators discovered Abbas’ DNA on plastic ties used to tie the arms of the concierge.
Requested concerning the trauma Kardashian suffered, Abbas stated : “It’s true, I didn’t think about it. I recognize that because I did not brutalize her myself… I was not blaming myself regarding this aspect, and yet I’m responsible for it too.”
Stolen jewels value $6 million
In response to Abbas, minutes after the raid began, his accomplices got here down from Kardashian’s condominium and gave him a bag of bijou.
As he was fleeing the scene on a bicycle, he noticed a police automobile, however officers weren’t but conscious of the theft. Abbas stated as he rode the bicycle the bag containing the jewellery grew to become caught within the entrance wheel and he fell to the bottom, spilling the contents of the bag. “I picked the jewels up and left,” he stated.
The next morning, a passerby discovered a diamond-encrusted cross on the street and handed it to police. That was the one jewel from the theft that was ever recovered.
French justice estimated stolen objects to be value $6 million in whole.
Abbas stated he didn’t know Kardashian’s identification on the time of the theft.
“I was told about a famous person, a rapper’s wife. That’s all the information I had,” he stated. “Until the next morning, when I heard on TV about the influencer. That’s when I understood who she was.”
He stated he’ll element his function through the trial, which shall be performed with a jury, a process in France reserved for essentially the most critical crimes – but he wouldn’t denounce his accomplices.
“I’m only an outsider. I’m not the one who masterminded the case. I take my share of responsibility,” he stated.
Many of the suspects have denied involvement, apart from Abbas and one other man whose DNA was additionally discovered on the scene.
FBI involvement
Thierry Niemen, the journalist who co-authored Abbas’ e-book, stated Abbas approached him as a result of he wished to “tell his own truth” amid what he noticed as inaccurate or sensationalized accounts.
The e-book additionally revealed investigative particulars, together with how the FBI helped French police determine Abbas’ DNA regardless of him carrying gloves.
“This is the case of all superlatives,” Niemen stated. “The FBI overseeing an investigation on French territory — that’s already a superlative.” Kardashian was then the highest influencer on this planet and the case was the preferred matter on the social media in 2016, Niemen harassed.
Abbas’ earnings from the e-book have been frozen pending the end result of the trial.
Kardashian’s lawyer, Michael Rhodes, has stated the fact TV star and entrepreneur desires the trial “to proceed in an orderly fashion in accordance with French law and with respect for all parties to the case.”
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AP Author Nicolas Vaux-Montagny in Lyon, France contributed to the story.
