Amy McIlquham was 21 when she was asked to go to Gstaad, Switzerland, for a long weekend with her boss.
Ms. McIlquham had joined Harrods, the luxury department store in London, in 1993. A Canadian on a work-abroad program, she was promoted from the shop floor to become a personal assistant to Mohamed al-Fayed, who co-owned the business with his younger brothers, Salah and Ali.
In early 1994, she recalled, she boarded the company’s private jet and flew to Gstaad to work as an assistant to Ali.
Once she got there, however, there was no work to do, she said. She was alone in the chalet with Ali and a housekeeper. Then Ali, who was in his early 50s, took her to a swimming pool. She remembers the black swimsuit and fake pearl necklace she was wearing.
“I just remember him pulling me in, the groping and the pulling in from the waist and my bottom, just grabbing and groping and pulling,” said Ms. McIlquham, now 52, in an interview. She believes it was the weekend of April 30, 1994, because she remembers the Eurovision Song Contest was on TV.
“I was molested, sexually molested, without a doubt. And he was just giggling,” she said.
