Suspect in Kardashian jewelry robbery says he will apologize and take responsibility
Yunice Abbas, one of the suspects in the armed robbery of Kim Kardashian, said he intends to take responsibility for his role in the 2016 robbery and apologize in court at the beginning of Monday’s trial.
Abbas, 71, publicly admitted that he was involved in the robbery and was one of the 10 suspects on kidnapping and armed robbery.
“I will apologize,” Abbas told the Associated Press. “I mean sincerity.”
Kardashian, 44, is expected to testify in person during a trial scheduled for May 23.
In the interview with her Jewelry worth millions In her apartment at Paris Fashion Week.
She said she thought she would be raped and killed.
“They wrapped tape around my eyes and my mouth,” she said. “It was the scariest thing I’ve ever experienced in my life, just thinking, you know, you’re going to die.
Kardashian is expected to testify in person at the trial in Paris (Getty)
Abbas said he acted as a surveillance in the reception area on the ground floor to ensure the escape route is clear. He said he was not armed and did not personally threaten Kardashian, but admitted he was responsible for the crime.
He was arrested in January 2017 and was released under judicial supervision for 21 months.
In 2021, he co-authored French Kim Kardashian.
Kardashian described two men in an account given to investigators, forcing them into the bedroom and pointing at her a gun and asking for her ring.
She said she was tied together with plastic cables and tape when the intruders were searching for jewelry, including multi-million dollar engagement rings.
In her appearance on David Letterman’s Netflix show in 2020, she burst into tears: “This is when I’m going to be raped. I thought, ‘What’s going on? Are we going to die? Just tell them I have kids. I have kids, I have husbands, I have a family.” ”
She told investigators that the men took her to the bathroom before running out and she managed to free herself.
The concierge who lives in the residence held a gun and was forced to take the robber to her apartment, which was also psychologically affected.
Investigators found Abbas’ DNA on a plastic bond used to tie the concierge hands.
Yunice Abbas is one of the suspects in the armed robbery of Kim Kardashian
Asked about the trauma that Kardashian suffered, Abbas said: “Yes, I didn’t think about it. I realized that because I didn’t blame myself…I didn’t blame myself for this aspect, but I was also responsible for it.”
According to Abbas, his accomplices fell from Kardashian’s apartment and gave him a bag of jewelry minutes after the raid began.
When he fled the scene on his bicycle, he saw a police car, but the police were not aware of the robbery.
Abbas said that when he was riding his bike, the bag containing the jewelry was caught by the front wheel and he fell to the ground and spilled the bag. He said, “I picked up the jewelry.”
The next morning, a passerby found a diamond-covered cross on the street and handed it over to the police. That was the only jewelry that robbed from the robbery.
French Justice estimates the total value of stolen items is $6 million.
Abbas said he did not know Kardashian’s identity during the robbery.
“I was told a name to the wife of a rapper. That’s all the information I had,” he said. “Until the next morning, when I heard about the influencer on TV. That was when I knew who she was.”
He said he would introduce his role in detail during the trial and conduct it with a jury, a process reserved for the worst offenses in France. But he would not condemn his accomplices.
“I’m just an outsider. I’m not the one who planned the case. I took my own responsibility,” he said.
Most of the suspects denied their involvement, except Abbas and another person who found DNA at the scene.
Reporter Thierry Niemen, co-authoring Abbas’s book, said Abbas contacted him because he wanted to “tell his truth” in a narrative he thought was inaccurate or sensational.
The book also reveals details of the investigation, including how the FBI helped French police identify Abbas’ DNA, despite wearing gloves.
“This is the case at all the highest level,” Nimmen said. “The FBI oversees the investigation of French territory – which is already the highest level.”
Niemen stressed that Kardashian was the world’s largest influencer at the time and the case was the most popular topic on social media.
Abbas’s income from the book is frozen, awaiting the trial result.
Kardashian’s attorney Michael Rhodes said reality TV stars and entrepreneurs wanted the trial to be “in an orderly manner in accordance with French law and respect all parties to the case.”
