Kim Kardashian has given emotional testimony to a Paris court, telling judges she thought she was going to die at the hands of masked gunmen who stole millions of dollars of jewellery from her in a luxury hotel suite in 2016.

The reality TV star and businesswoman – who was bound and had a gun held to her head during the ordeal – faced her alleged attackers for the first time while giving evidence in the case.

Nine men and one woman are on trial for the armed burglary of £10m (£7.55m) worth of jewellery, including a diamond engagement ring from her ex-husband Kanye West.

Kardashian, who gave testimony in a seat in front of the BBC, spoke for more than three hours in court on Tuesday.

Her evidence was at times interrupted by apologies from two defendants.

After one of the defendants, Aomar Ait Khedache, 71, sitting metres from Kardashian in the courtroom expressed his regret, she turned to him and said she forgave him.

Referencing her activism in the US to improve the justice system and her dreams of becoming a lawyer, she thanked Khedache for his apology letter.

“I do appreciate it, I forgive you,” she said to him in the stand, while crying.

“But it doesn’t change the emotion, the feelings and the trauma and the way my life has changed.”

“I just want to thank everyone, especially the French authorities, for allowing me to testify today and tell my truth,” the TV star told the court on Tuesday which was packed with media.

The trial for the crime committed more than nine years ago has been long-anticipated and closely followed by press.

Wearing a tailored black suit and diamond jewellery, Kardashian was supported in the courtroom by her mother, Kris Jenner, several friends, and a bevy of bodyguards.

She faltered at times in her first hour of giving testimony, fidgeting with her long nails, and pausing when overwhelmed by emotion and fighting back tears. However she appeared to relax and gather strength the longer she went on, her voice becoming steadier.

She also expressed forgiveness for one of the defendants, who issued an apology to her during her testimony.

Tuesday’s session in court was the first time Kardashian had relayed to a criminal court her account of the armed burglary, and the extent of her fears during and after the attack.

She recounted how she had been in town for Paris Fashion Week on 2 October, and had retired for the night at around 03:00 when two masked gunmen wearing police uniforms burst into her room, dragging with them the hotel’s receptionist who had been bound and gagged.

She managed to call her bodyguard before one of the men then took her phone off her. They snatched her engagement ring, which had been lying on the bedside table, and then “picked me up off the bed and grabbed me and took me down the hallway” to look for more jewellery,” she said.

One of the men held a gun to her back at this point, and “that was the first moment I thought, should I run for it? But it wasn’t an option so I just stayed,” she said, adding that she realised she should just “do whatever they say” for her safety.

Kardashian said she was then thrown onto the bed and her hands bound with zip ties. At this point, she told the concierge: “Please translate to them that I have babies, I have to make it home.”

One of the men then pulled her towards him, which opened her robe, under which she wasn’t wearing anything.

She told the court she was afraid she was going to be raped, saying she said a prayer to mentally prepare herself.

But then her legs were tied together and a gun pointed at her. She said at that point, “I was sure that’s when they were going to shoot me.”

She thought of her family at that point, offering them a “prayer” that they would not have to experience her killing.

She expressed fear for her sister, Kourtney, having to walk into the hotel room to find that “I would be shot dead on the bed and she would see that and have that memory forever.”

When asked by the judge David de Pas if she thought she was going to die she replied in a small voice: “I absolutely did think I was gonna die.”

Kardashian said she looked in the eyes of the man who tied her up to try to remember details – and that he told her if she remained quiet, she would be ok.

After the robbers took the jewellery, they dashed out of the suite, leaving Kardashian in the bathroom. She said she then managed to free her hands from the cable ties and hopped down the staircase to the first floor of the suite, where her stylist and friend Simone Harouche helped release the other ties.

The two then ran out onto the balcony where they called for help while hiding in the bushes. Kardashian said she was worried the men would return, and that when Parisian police turned up, she couldn’t trust them because the robbers had also been wearing police uniforms.

During the testimony in the packed courtroom, Kardashian also answered several questions from the judge about why her security were not present at the time.

Her usual team had been sent to accompany her sister Kourtney to the club, while Kim had stayed in.

She told the court she did not have a bodyguard with her because up until the robbery, she and her family had not believed they needed that level of security. She said she had previously always felt safe to go out on the streets of Paris on her own, and they had been comfortable with their security team staying at a different hotel.

“Everything changed” after Paris, she said, noting that she employs up to six people to guard her house at night now, and that she started to get a “phobia of going out” because she thought people would “see me out and know my home was empty”.

“I can’t even sleep at night if I know there’s not multiple security” guards, she said, noting her concern about copycat attacks, and that her Los Angeles house was robbed even before the family returned from the Paris trip.

Kardashian’s testimony on Tuesday was interrupted at several points by offers of apology from two of the defendants in the court room, who have pleaded guilty to the charge. While she accepted Khedache’s apology, she did not acknowledge the presence of the other defendants who are contesting the charges.

She ignored her former driver Gary Madar who is accused of having tipped off the burglary ring about her whereabouts. He has denied the charges.

She also expressed anger over one of the defendants who has pleaded guilty, Yunice Abbas, who published a memoir in 2021 prior to the trial titled ‘”I Held Up Kim Kardashian”.

Kardashian told the court on Tuesday she was “really shocked when I saw there was a book”.

“Not only did he do this, but now [he’s] making money off that – my jewellery, my memories, the watch my dad who passed away gave me when I graduated high school. I can’t get that back.”

She also told the court she wanted closure from the trial’s proceedings.

“I wanted to be a part of today because I am a victim in this case and it’s the first time I’m able to really hear from everyone and follow along,” she said.

“This is what I do. I want to become a lawyer and I do believe everyone has the opportunity to speak their truth, and this is my closure and my opportunity to put this to rest after everything I’ve been through.”

Kardashian added that her job is “to tell my truth and hope this doesn’t happen to anyone else”.

“It was terrifying and life-changing and I don’t wish that kind of terror on anyone – to think you could be killed or raped – I wouldn’t wish that on my worst enemy.”