Reality TV star Kim Kardashian has offered her forgiveness to the accused ringleader of a gang who allegedly attacked her in Paris, but admitted she is still haunted by the trauma of the hotel robbery.

On Tuesday, the billionaire, 44, took the stand in a Paris court, recounting her shock and fear and saying she thought she would be shot dead or raped during the robbery in 2016.

Kardashian cried as she recalled the start of the attack, in which the suspects are accused of tying her up with zip ties and duct tape before making off with jewellery, including a $US4 million ($A6.2 million) engagement ring given to her by rapper Kanye West.

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Kardashian was read out a letter of apology penned by defendant Aomar Ait Khedache, 69, nicknamed “Omar the Old”, who can no longer speak. He was said to be the leader of the gang but has always denied it.

“I’m honestly emotional about it,” Kardashian told the court, in tears.

Looking at Khedache, she added: “I do appreciate the letter for sure, I forgive you.”

Kardashian said the apology didn’t change the trauma associated with the robbery, which will stay with her forever.

“It doesn’t change the feelings and the trauma and the fact that my life was forever changed, but I do appreciate the letter, thank you,” Kardashian added.

In response, a second letter from Khedache read: “Your forgiveness is a sunshine that has enlightened me ... I am forever grateful.”

Kardashian told the court she believed she was “going to die” during the violent robbery.

“I thought about my sister, thought she would walk in and see me shot dead and have that memory in her forever,” she said.

“We were leaving the next morning, so I was just packing up, it was around three in the morning,” she said.

“I heard stomping up the stairs when I was in bed.”

She said men dressed as police officers barged in.

“Then I heard one of the gentlemen forcefully say ‘ring! ring!’ in English, with an accent,” she said.

One of them pointed a gun at her.

“I was pretty hysterical, and I just looked at the concierge and told him ‘What is going to happen to us? I have to make it home to my babies’,” Kardashian said.

At one point, Kardashian said she feared she was going to be raped as the robbers threw her on the bed and one of them grabbed her leg.

“But he ended up tying me up and closed my legs,” she said.

Kardashian said the intruders did not hit her.

“I was grabbed, and dragged into the other room, and thrown onto the floor, but wasn’t hit, no,” she said.

The attack, during Paris Fashion Week, changed a lot of things, Kardashian said. Her security was ramped up, allowing her to feel safe.

“It changed the way that I feel safe at home. Now I have between four and six security (guards) at home for me to feel safe,” she said.

“I can’t sleep at night if there aren’t multiple security people.”

Ahead of Kardashian’s testimony, her stylist Simone Harouche, who was asleep in the same luxury hotel flat at the time of the attack, told the court of the “terror” they both felt during the robbery.

“She was beside herself, I’ve never seen her like that before,” Harouche said.

“She just was screaming and kept saying we need to get out of here, we need help, what are we going to do if they come back.”

Harouche also cried at times during her testimony and said she had changed careers and underwent therapy because of the robbery, which she said caused her post-traumatic stress.

Harouche added it made her fearful of being around celebrities.

In all, nine men and one woman are being tried by the criminal court.

Five of them — all men -—face armed robbery and kidnapping charges and potentially risk being sentenced to life imprisonment if found guilty.

Most of the jewels, including the engagement ring, have never been recovered.

On Wednesday, journalist Peter Allen crossed from Paris to tell Sunrise viewers about the moment Kardashian offered her forgiveness to one of the robbers.

“That was an extraordinary moment really and took us rather by surprise,” Allen said.

“The man in question, Khedache, is 69 years old now, he has spent most of his adult life in prison.

“He’s a real hardened, convicted drug smuggler, armed robber and the like.

“He’s very ill now. For example, he couldn’t communicate in court except through writing notes. One of the notes he wanted to hand to the prosecutors was for Kim Kardashian and it said, ‘Look, I’m sorry. This shouldn’t have happened.’

“If you look at the history of the case, you would be actually quite surprised that somebody could forgive what happened.

“He is said to have been the leader of the gang, but Kim Kardashian very generously said, ‘Yes, I do forgive you, but that doesn’t disguise the trauma.’

“Two things can be right at the same time, “I forgive you, but I had a horrific time. I have a huge security phobia now. I’m terrified of being attacked in the middle of the night’.

“She now travels around with six bodyguards. I counted four in court today. But that really was a seminal moment, I think, in this trial, certainly.”

— With AAP