“Deeply disappointed”: Jasper mayor says CN Rail relocation will be devastating

LONDON (AP) — Mohamed Al Fayed, the former boss of Harrods, was a “monster’ who raped and sexually abused young women, including three Canadians, lawyers representing dozens of his accusers said Friday.

The abuse went on through much of Al Fayed’s 25-year tenure — from 1985 on — at the helm of the world-renowned London department store, the lawyers said. They spoke at a televised news conference in London in the wake of the BBC documentary “Al-Fayed: Predator At Harrods.”

Lawyer Bruce Drummond said three of Al Fayed’s alleged victims were from Canada, including one who was “seriously, seriously assaulted when she was 16.”

The four-member legal team told reporters they have been retained by 37 of Al Fayed’s accusers and were in the process of adding more clients, including potentially from other organizations that Al Fayed was involved with.

In the documentary, which was broadcast on Thursday, the Egypt-born Al Fayed who died last year at the age of 94, was accused of raping at least five women at his properties in London and Paris and of committing scores of other acts of assault and physical violence, both in and outside of Harrods.

“We will say it plainly: Mohamed Al Fayed was a monster,” said lead lawyer Dean Armstrong. “But he was a monster enabled by a system, a system that pervaded Harrods.”

Armstrong said the case combined “some of the most horrific elements” of cases such as those involving Jimmy Savile, Jeffrey Epstein and Harvey Weinstein — well-known and powerful men who were able to avoid sexual abuse allegations for years before their victims finally came forward.

Savile, a famous U.K. television personality who had received a knighthood, was accused of sexual abuse by hundreds of witnesses and victims after he died in 2011. Epstein, a jet-setting financier who killed himself in 2019, sexually abused children hundreds of times over more than a decade. And Weinstein, the once-powerful Hollywood studio mogul, was convicted of rape and sexual assault in 2020 and rape in 2022; his 2020 conviction was overturned and he is awaiting a new trial.

Some of Al Fayed’s accusers were teenagers at the time of the abuse, with at least one as young as 15, according to the BBC documentary.

London’s Metropolitan Police have said they were made aware of allegations in the past and had questioned Al Fayed in 2008 in connection with the sexual abuse of a 15-year-old but prosecutors at the time did not take the cases forward.

There was also no comment from Al Fayed’s family.

One of Al Fayed’s accusers spoke at the news conference. She was identified only as Natacha and said the billionaire businessman was “highly manipulative” and “preyed on the most vulnerable, those of us who needed to pay the rent and some of us who didn’t have parents to protect them.”

Natacha, who said she joined Al Fayed’s team of personal assistants at the age of 19, recounted being invited to his private apartment one night “on the pretext of a job review.” When she arrived, she said she saw the bedroom door partially open with sex toys in view.

“I felt petrified. I perched myself at the very end of the sofa and then … Mohamed Al Fayed, my boss, the person I worked for, pushed himself onto me,” she said.

After kicking herself free, she said Al Fayed threatened her.

“He laughed at me,” she said. “He then composed himself and he told me, in no uncertain terms, that I was never to breathe a word of this to anyone and that if I did, I would never work in London again and he knew where my family lived.”

“I felt scared and sick,” she added.

In the United Kingdom, victims often identify themselves by only one name to protect their privacy. It wasn’t clear why Natacha gave only one name while appearing before cameras, or if that was her real first name.

The Associated Press does not identify victims of sexual assault unless they have come forward and voluntarily identified themselves. The team of lawyers could not immediately be reached for comment.

Al Fayed moved to Britain in the 1960s, after early investments in shipping in Italy and the Middle East, and started building an empire. At the height of his wealth, he owned the Ritz hotel in Paris and the southwest London soccer team Fulham. He moved in high circles in London but was never knighted. He became a prominent conspiracy theorist after the Paris crash that killed his son Dodi and Princess Diana in 1997.

Al Fayed sold Harrods in 2010 to a company owned by the state of Qatar via its sovereign wealth fund, the Qatar Investment Authority.

In a statement to the BBC, the Harrods owners said they were “utterly appalled” by the allegations of abuse but added that they were only made aware of them last year.

“While we cannot undo the past, we have been determined to do the right thing as an organization, driven by the values we hold today, while ensuring that such behaviour can never be repeated in the future,” the owners said in a statement.

Armstrong dismissed Harrods’ claim that the owners knew nothing of the sexual allegations made against Al Fayed over many years, citing several media reports in recent years over allegations of sexual misconduct on the part of Al Fayed. The BBC documentary said at least one of the women had signed a non-disclosure agreement.

“We are here to say publicly and to the world, or to Harrods in front of the world, that it is time that they took responsibility,” Armstrong said. “That is something they should do as soon as possible.”

U.S. lawyer Gloria Allred, who has represented victims in some of the most notorious sexual abuse cases in recent years, including those about abuse by Epstein, Weinstein and Bill Cosby, also spoke and lambasted the culture at Harrods during Al Fayed’s tenure.

“Harrods is often referred to as the most beautiful store in the world … many women dreamt of working there,” she said. “However, underneath the Harrods glitz and glamour was a toxic, unsafe and abusive environment.”

— With files from The Canadian Press.

HALIFAX – The fall sitting of the Nova Scotia legislature has wrapped up after a short 10-day session.

The rapid conclusion comes after the governing Progressive Conservatives called the House of Assembly back earlier than usual Sept. 5.

Premier Tim Houston downplayed the significance of the short sitting, telling reporters that he’s more concerned about the impact of the government’s legislation than the length of time members are sitting in the legislature.

This year’s spring sitting was only 20 days long and in general most sessions run for at least a month or more.

The government passed six pieces of legislation, including one that extends its five per cent cap on rent for longer-term leases until the end of 2027, and another giving workers up to 27 weeks of unpaid time off if they develop a serious illness or are severely hurt on the job.

A bill introduced by the NDP declaring domestic violence an epidemic in the province was also passed.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 20, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

MONTREAL – Quebec police said they would make their presence felt in major cities across the province on Friday, as a war between Hells Angels and street gangs was linked to the death of a 14-year-old boy southeast of the provincial capital.

Multiple media reports say police found the body of a teenager from Montreal near a Hells Angels-linked bunker in Frampton, Que., about 50 kilometres southeast of Quebec City in the Beauce region. The child was reportedly sent to attack the bunker.

Quebec Public Security Minister François Bonnardel said it is “vile” that organized criminals are recruiting youth.

“Like many Quebecers, what I hear coming out of Frampton shocks me,” Bonnardel wrote on Thursday. “It is vile for street gangs to enlist young people — children — to do their dirty work.”

Provincial police on Friday would only confirm that a body of a male victim was discovered overnight on Sept. 16 in Frampton and that the death is suspicious. A spokesperson for the coroner’s office said they were still working to confirm the victim’s identity.

Following the death, and as a result of a bloody conflict between organized criminals over drug territory in the Quebec City area, 120 police officers with 25 police forces from across the province were expected to make their presence felt in major cities on Friday.

In a news release, provincial police, who are leading the operation, said the officers would visit bars and clubs in the Montreal and Quebec City regions, but also in the Outaouais, Mauricie, and Saguenay. Police said they would also be erecting roadblocks.

“This concerted operation aims to reiterate a clear message to members of organized crime and anyone prepared to commit acts of violence that the police forces are continuing their actions against armed violence,” provincial police said.

Early Monday morning, police were called to a vehicle fire in Frampton, and were led to the nearby bunker belonging to a Hells Angels support club known as the Red Devils, where they found the body, reports said. They arrested a man at the bunker, who was released on a promise to appear in court at a later date. Local media have reported a number of incidents over the past year at the Red Devils building, including an attack in May and another in December 2023.

Quebec provincial police say they’ll be stepping up their presence in the community of about 1,300 people, and deploying mitigation measures to assuage the concerns of worried citizens. Sgt. Beatrice Dorsainville said a mobile command unit was deployed in the heart of Frampton on Friday and would be there on Monday too. Residents are encouraged to speak to police if they have information to share, she said.

Frampton Mayor Jean Audet called on residents to co-operate.

“We are aware that the police have a meticulous investigative job to do and that they cannot elaborate in order to preserve its integrity,” Audet said in a statement regarding the boy’s death. “However, as citizens, we have a collective duty to inform the police of any information that we believe is or is not related to what happened recently.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 20, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.