A career criminal who wrote a ‘boastful and mocking’ book about robbing Kim Kardashian at gunpoint today told a court: ‘I do regret what I did, it opened my eyes.’
Yunice Abbas, 72, is facing life in prison for the attack on the American reality TV star, in which Ksh1.2 billion worth of jewellery was stolen and never recovered.
He was part of a gang which bound and gagged Kardashian, who is now 44, in her rented Paris penthouse during Fashion Week in the French capital in 2016.
Abbas – one of 10 defendants standing trial at the Paris Assizes – admitted his involvement as a lookout after his DNA was found at the crime scene.
Sympathy for victims
While waiting to appear in the dock, first of all in a remand cell and then on bail, he wrote ‘I kidnapped Kim Kardashian’, despite serious health problems.
On Tuesday, the second day of proceedings, Judge David Pas said to Abbas: ‘Listening to you, it sounds like you only ever feel sorry for yourself. Do you have any sympathy for your victims?
Abbas, who is 72 and who underwent a triple bypass operation during a spell in prison, answered: ‘I do have regrets. Before I didn’t. But this time I do regret what I did. This case has opened my eyes.
‘The Kim Kardashian case was being talked about on TV all the time, and it led to me asking some questions.’
When the Judge said Abbas’s literary work made it sound as though he was proud of robbing Kardashian, Abbas replied: ‘No, not at all.’
In the book, described as ‘boastful and mocking’ by prosecutors, Abbas sneered at Kardashian for trying to dial 911 – the telephone number for the emergency services in America – while being attacked in France.
Showing off
He also mocked multi-millionaire Kardashian for showing off her jewellery on social media platforms, such as Instagram.
While publicising his book, Abbas said: ‘Since Kardashian was throwing money away, I was there to collect it, and that was that.’
He added that celebrities like Kardashian should ‘be a little less showy toward people who can’t afford it.’
Abbas, who has spent 17 years of his life in jail for a variety of offences including robbery, told the Kardashian trial judge that he was used to life in a cell.
‘The longer the sentences are, the more you get used to it,’ he said.
Known for his fake alibis, Abbas said of his wife, Farida Abbas: ‘I’ve been lying to her all my life so as to protect her’.
Abbas was one of three men who kept watch in reception at the building where Kardashian was staying, as two others went upstairs to attack Kardashian, who was alone in her room.
Abbas escaped on a bike, but fell off, dropping a diamond-encrusted necklace which was found the next morning.
The only other defendant to admit his guilt is Abbas’s old friend Aomar Aït Khedache, 70.
Eight others, including one woman, Christiane ‘Cathy’ Glotin, 78, deny any wrongdoing.
There were originally 12 alleged gang members, but Marceau Baum-Gertner, the alleged super fence, died suddenly last month at the age of 72.
He made several trips to Antwerp to sell Kim Kardashian’s jewellery, according to investigators who had placed a GPS tracker on his car.
His death came after threats were made to him, allegedly by mafia gang members who bought the Kardashian property, which has never been recovered.
Pierre Bouianère, 72, and considered one of the ‘brains of the operation’ by prosecutors, is also now excluded from the trial, because of his Alzheimer’s disease.
The trial, which is due to go on until May 23rd, continues.
Kardashian’s American lawyers have confirmed that she will fly in from Los Angeles to give evidence in mid-May.