Mohamed Al Fayed “punished” his victims for resisting his attacks by publicly humiliating them, even going so far as to throw a lobster at one woman in front of high-profile guests on his yacht.
The former Harrods boss, who died aged 94 in August last year, was this week exposed as a serial sex attacker accused of abusing at least 37 women.
One of his victims, who worked as his personal assistant between 2007 and 2009, said he expected her to entertain celebrities on his superyacht despite his abuse.
The 42-year-old, known only as Gemma, said he humiliated her in front of three well-known celebrities on the multi-million pound boat while it was moored in Monaco.
“He threw a locust at me because I hadn’t spoken. He said, ‘Why don’t you speak? ’” she explained.
Mohamed Al Fayed threatened to throw a lobster at one of his victims in front of A-list guests on his yacht.
Three of Al Fayed’s accusers, Katherine, Lindsay Mason and Gemma. The former Harrods boss, who died this year aged 94, is accused of abusing at least 37 women.
One employee, known only as Gemma, said Al Fayed had humiliated her in front of three well-known celebrities on the multi-million pound boat while it was moored in Monaco.
The woman recalled another incident in Saint Tropez, when he demanded that she carry his bags and called her a “fucking donkey.”
“It was humiliating, it was part of his game,” he added. “It depended on whether you managed to push his advances away. If you did, you knew you were in for a hard day of humiliation. Sometimes they would make you sit in the back of the room… He had that look, an Al Fayed look when you knew you were in trouble.”
She added that when the tycoon managed to successfully abuse her, he would shower her with gifts of perfume or cashmere scarves, and described how she feared he would attack her at night after hiding the key to her room on the superyacht.
She also said that her security staff had given her some toothpicks and a piece of cloth to close the door. ‘I went crying and said, ‘Help, he’s been trying to get into my room,’ and they gave me some toothpicks and a piece of cloth and told me to put it under the door.
“It seems strange now, but it actually worked when he tried to get in that night,” he recalled.
The woman alleges that the abuse culminated in her being raped at Villa Windsor in Paris’ Bois de Boulogne after Al Fayed entered her bedroom while she was sleeping.
“I was face down on the bed and he just pressed himself against me,” she said, adding that he told her to wash herself with Dettol after the attack.
Gemma and two other victims who spoke to the Mail said the businessman took their passports when they travelled to prevent them from escaping.
They described how they were used as “beauty outfits” at celebrity events and on one occasion one described having to put on a fashion show for guests of the late tycoon.
The women also said the attacker used his son Dodi’s luxury apartment in Paris to attack young victims, even though his luxury mansion and the Ritz (which he owned) were nearby.
Lindsay Mason, 55, who worked for Al Fayed in 1989 as a personal assistant, said he tried to brutally rape her at the French residence.
Some victims who spoke to the Mail said Al Fayed kept their passports to prevent them from escaping when they travelled.
Mohamed Al Fayed pictured during the unveiling of the Dodi Al Fayed and Diana memorial at Harrods
Dodi is believed to have had an affair with Princess Diana at the same property. The pair are said to have been heading there on the night of the fatal car crash in 1997. Miss Mason told how she was violently attacked in the apartment which she said had a maze of doors after she had flown there on her private jet with three celebrities.
“I went there one night and there was no one else there,” he said. “I remember there were a lot of doors that closed behind you.
They said it was to keep us safe, but now I know it was to prevent us from escaping.
The 20-year-old suffered several injuries while trying to…
To remove Al Fayed before
barricading himself in one of the many bedrooms.
Another victim, Katherine, who was fired after repelling one of his attacks, described how the employer humiliated her at work by opening her blouse.
Al Fayed also forced her to wax her lip and straighten her hair because she “hated” her curly brown hair.