The small-town Ontario woman caught in Harrods sexual assault 'coverup'
CTV
An Ontario woman is among the dozens of people who have come forward to allege that they were sexually abused by London-based businessman Mohamed Al Fayed, the former chairman and owner of Harrods.
Amy remembers walking into Harrods in 1993 and being dazzled by the glittering beauty around her. She had just graduated from Trent University and had applied for a job at the luxury department store in London.
She was just 21 years old when she was hired at Harrods to work on the shop floor and sell Furla and Moschino purses. It was the first time Amy had ventured so far from her home in Peterborough, Ont.
"I could never imagine being in such an amazing building. It was just full of luxury and wonders and beauty," Amy, 52, said during an interview with Canadian journalists in London. "It was a dream come true."
That dream turned into a nightmare after she caught the attention of Mohamed Al Fayed, the former chairman and owner of Harrods.
She remembers being approached by human resources and was told that the chairman wanted to meet her and to "look good for him." In that first meeting, Amy said, Al Fayed inquired about her upbringing and education and was "interested" to know that she was in London alone, on her first experience abroad.
After that meeting, Amy was told that she was getting promoted, no longer working on the shop floor, but being moved to a position working in Al Fayed's private office overlooking Hyde Park. Before the transfer, Amy was sent to a doctor for a gynecological exam. It was the first time she got a pap smear, but never saw the results of the test.
"(I) was moving into a more intimate situation, closer to his playing field… I just thought this was part of the screening process."
