May 23 (UPI) — A six-person jury and three judges in Paris convicted eight people in the armed robbery against Kim Kardashian 8 1/2 years ago, but they won’t serve any more jail time.
Two others were acquitted in the trial that began April 28. Another person charged in the case had died and a 12th one was too ill to be tried.
The 44-year-old reality TV star and entrepreneur was gagged, bound with zip ties and robbed at gunpoint of jewelry worth several million dollars on Oct. 3, 2016. At the time, she had rented a luxury residence during Paris Fashion Week.
The 12 men and women were arrested in January 2017.
Seven men and one woman were found guilty on charges ranging from direct involvement in the robbery to lesser complicity in it.
They were sentenced to three to eight years in prison. Counting time served and with sentences mostly or entirely suspended, none will return to jail.
A ninth defendant was found guilty of illegally acquiring and possessing firearms but the panel cleared him of involvement in the robbery. A 10th defendant was acquitted.
“The sentences are fairly lenient,” David De Pas, the presiding judge, said in the ruling.
He cited the advanced age and health issues of many of the defendants as mitigating factors.
But he added: “You did harm.”
Kardashian won’t appeal, according to her lawyer, Leonor Hennerick, outside the courtroom.
“Kim Kardashian is aware of the decision and is satisfied,” Hennerick told reporters. “Justice has been served and she can now move on. She will continue with her rehabilitation project.”
The main suspects were dubbed the “grandpa robbers” in their 60s and 70s. Only two acknowledged their involvement.
The prosecution said they were “seasoned robbers” with extensive criminal records who had carefully prepared their heist. The lawyers also said they showed no empathy for Kardashian or for the night watchman, who was ordered to lead the robbers to her apartment.
They conducted one of the most daring celebrity heists in France’s recent history.
During testimony last month, Kardashian said she feared for her life during the robbery by five masked men.
“I absolutely thought that I was going to die,” Kardashian said in her May 13 testimony. “I kept telling them that I have babies, and that I needed to go home to my babies.”
She said two men entered her room dressed as police officers.
Most of her stolen jewelry was not recovered, including a $4 million diamond engagement ring from her then-husband Kanye West. Kardashian told the court the insurance payout for the jewelry was about $6 million.
The DNA of Aomar Aït Khedache, 69, was found at the scene but he denied accusations that he masterminded the robbery by recruiting accomplices, giving orders and arranging to sell the stolen diamonds in Belgium.
Yunice Abbas, 72, who acted as a lookout, wrote a book about the heist. Abbas’ hands shook from Parkinson‘s disease when he spoke in court
“I forgive you for what had taken place,” Kardashian tearfully told Khedache in court after he apologized to her. “But it doesn’t change the emotion, and the feelings, and the trauma, and the ways that my life is forever changed.”
Defendant Didier Dubreucq, 69, was absent from court several times to undergo chemotherapy for cancer.