A survivor of Mohamed Al Fayed’s sexual abuse has given a harrowing account of her struggling at his palms. Talking at a press convention in London, the girl – named as Natacha – advised reporters she “walked right into a lion’s den” when she accepted a job with the previous proprietor of Harrods division retailer in London.
She stated working for him had concerned a “layer of cover-ups, deceit, lies, manipulation, humiliation and gross sexual misconduct”.
Referring to Fayed, who died final yr at 94, as “the chairman”, Natacha stated he “preyed on essentially the most weak – these of us who wanted to pay the hire and a few of us who didn’t have mother and father to guard them”. She referred to as him a “extremely manipulative” determine who initially went out of his strategy to make her really feel protected and cozy at work.
“Mohamed Al Fayed, a sick predator, lured me in by utilizing the identical modus operandi he used time and time once more. I used to be subjected to Aids and STD testing with out consent, and now imagine in hindsight I used to be checked for my purity.”
As soon as he had lured her in, Natacha stated Fayed began to make use of non-public conferences to topic her to an escalating marketing campaign of bodily abuse. This culminated together with her being summoned to his non-public condominium one night time “on the pretext of a job evaluation”.
She stated: “The door was locked behind me … I noticed his bed room door partially open – there have been intercourse toys on view. I felt petrified. I perched myself on the very finish of the couch after which … Mohamed Al Fayed, my boss, the particular person I labored for, pushed himself on to me.”
She stated after she was capable of combat to free herself from his assault, “he laughed at me. He then composed himself and he advised me, in no unsure phrases, that I used to be by no means to breathe a phrase of this to anybody. If I did, I might by no means work in London once more, and he knew the place my household lived. I felt scared and sick.”
One other survivor advised the BBC she was raped after staying at certainly one of Fayed’s residences after a late shift at work. “I made it apparent that I didn’t need that to occur. I didn’t give consent. I simply wished it to be over,” she stated.
“I bear in mind feeling his physique on me, the burden of him. Simply listening to him make these noises. And simply going some place else in my head.”
One other girl, who labored as certainly one of Fayed’s private assistants between 2007 and 2009, advised BBC Radio 4’s At present programme she was “required” to have gynaecological exams to get the job and believed, wanting again, the exams had been checking for sexually transmitted infections.
She stated Fayed raped her throughout a visit to Paris and he or she felt “terrified” afterwards. “In Paris, there have been safety guards patrolling the home, there have been safety guards exterior the home. We had been locked in a gated property. We’d been escorted there that day by the police, so I felt like I couldn’t even go to the police, even when I might make my approach out of the property.”
Supply hyperlink
