Gianluigi Donnarumma and his then-pregnant girlfriend Alessia Elefante were hit, bound and threatened with a knife by robbers who broke into their Paris flat in 2023, a French court heard this week.
The Manchester City goalkeeper and Elefante, whom he has since married and had a child with, were asleep in their apartment on Avenue Montaigne, one of Paris's most famous and luxurious streets, when the robbers struck. Donnarumma, now 27, was playing for Paris Saint-Germain at the time of the break-in before his move to Manchester City.
Donnarumma joined PSG from AC Milan in 2021 and was the club's goalkeeper when they won the Champions League in 2025. He is also a regular for the Italy national team, with whom he was named player of the tournament as they won the European Championship in 2021.
A Paris criminal court is holding a two-day hearing into the robbery. Donnarumma is not expected to give evidence in person, but a witness statement from him has shed further light on what happened, according to court documents.
The documents revealed that Donnarumma was woken by a man saying "shh" before he was hit in the face with a knuckle duster and threatened with a knife.
Watches, cash and jewellery handed over
The intruder then demanded: "The watches, the watches." Donnarumma told investigators: "I showed him the one on the dressing table, an Audemars Piguet," a watch brand whose pieces can be worth hundreds of thousands of euros.
Elefante said she was also woken by the thieves, who attacked her and shouted: "The money, the watches." She handed over a Cartier watch, jewellery and €2,000 (£1,718) in cash.
She was then pressed for the code to a safe. She said she didn't know it and told the robbers it was empty anyway. "They got angry thinking that I was lying," she told investigators. "They pulled me by the hair and one of them hit me on the thighs. I said I was pregnant but they continued." Donnarumma eventually gave them the code, but as Elefante had warned, the safe was empty.
Robbers scaled the roof to break in
The court was told the robbers left with keys to a Mercedes and a Lamborghini, along with cash, watches and luxury handbags. Police said the four robbers got into the flat by using a ladder to climb onto the roof before lowering themselves onto the balcony and breaking in through the windows.
Two already-jailed men accused of masterminding raid
Two men already in prison for other offences, Ilyas Kherbouch, 21, who has at least 11 previous criminal convictions, and Khyan Mamouni, are accused of masterminding and ordering the robbery from their cells. Both deny the charges.
Kherbouch, who escaped from jail in March and spent 13 days on the run before being recaptured, caused a stir at the opening of the trial when he insulted and threatened police officers after they told his brother to leave the courtroom. "Come here, you," he told them. "What are you going to do?" When he was warned he could be expelled from the courtroom, he replied: "I couldn't care less. I don't want to be present at the trial. I don't give a s***."
Two other robbers, who were under 18 at the time of the break-in, have already been sentenced to three and four years respectively by a children's court. Another defendant, Moktar Diop, 24, has admitted taking part but is not accused of using violence, while a fourth suspect died by suicide in 2024 after previously admitting involvement and telling investigators he had come under pressure from his accomplices.
Trial continues
Lawyers for Donnarumma and Elefante have said the couple are "still profoundly shocked" by the ordeal. The trial continues.
