“In [an email to executives,] Bourdillon described being groped and forcibly kissed by Croucher, and him chasing her around the office space while masturbating. “I was so scared,” she wrote. “‘I wanted to cry … I was scared he was going to rape me.’”
Croucher has since pleaded guilty to sexual and common assault in a criminal case brought by both Bourdillon and another freelancer, Laura Johnston. But thepiece focuses on an underexplored topic around reporting sexual assault: the hostile environments often created by companies who half-assedly address these complaints.
After assaulting two women, Croucher was allowed to “resign with notice,” meaning he was paid his salary during this notice period, allowed to keep his health insurance, and basically keep up the appearance of parting ways on good terms. Bourdillon and Johnston say they were left at the company to listen to co-workers express their sympathies for their abuser as higher-ups instructed them to keep their assaults a secret.
“We agree with you that we do not need to say he has resigned but instead can say that he has left and/or is no longer working on the production and there does not need to be a further explanation for his leaving. If asked, we can say that we cannot comment further as to the reasons, but we would not go beyond that to refer to conduct or inappropriate behaviour.”