Four men are on trial in Paris charged with stealing a million-dollar watch from an American tourist on the Champs-Elysees.
The incident was described by the prosecutor as detrimental to the French capital's reputation.
The accused waited all night for the US tourist on January 1, 2024, after spotting the watch on his wrist the previous evening as he entered the Pullman Paris Tour Eiffel hotel with his family near Paris's most famous avenue, the court heard.
The next morning, at 8.30am, after he left the hotel and was passing a taxi rank, they ripped the Jacob & Co Bugatti Chiron Tourbillon watch off his arm and drove away in a Renault Clio. French police tracked the car as it headed to Luxembourg then Belgium.
Three months later, three men in their 30s, originally from Algeria and Morocco, were arrested in the Paris suburbs. The suspected leader of the gang, Youssef H, was never found.
The watch, bought by its owner for $250,000, is understood to be worth four times that price but has never been recovered.
The three men appeared in person for the trial that started on Thursday, with a verdict expected on Friday.
'Bad image of Paris'
“These are acts that harm France because they reflect a very bad image of Paris and cause lasting disruption to public order,” the prosecutor was quoted by Le Parisien newspaper as saying after their arrest.
At the trial, Ouahid A is reported to have said he played a minimal role in the robbery claiming he did no more than drive the gang's car. A second defendant, Arselane H, known under 15 aliases, admitted snatching the watch from the tourist's wrist but said he thought it was worthless. A Moroccan citizen, he has twice been convicted of theft in France.
The third accused, Akram T, known for previous acts of robbery, has denied playing any role in the watch's theft. He is quoted by Le Parisien as telling investigators: “I didn’t do anything. At the time of the robbery, I went to buy a sandwich. I sat down on the subway. And when I got back, the others were running and I got in the car with them.”
The trial is expected to conclude on Friday.
