Businessman and ANUG member Kian Jabour yesterday refused to respond to questions pertaining to a video in which he told a young woman that she was mentally unstable as she attempted to evict his Taco Loco business from its Thomas Street location.
While Jabour, who is a candidate on the A New United Guyana (ANUG) party list, in a statement on his Facebook accused “APNU+AFC operatives” of making defamatory statements in an attempt to besmirch his character, he refused to address the video when contacted by Stabroek News.
“I am not going to give a comment on that, it is a private matter,” he told this newspaper when contacted.
He did not confirm or deny that he is the person who is speaking in the video.
Asked whether he believed his labelling of the young woman as “mentally ill” in the video was appropriate especially in the light of the fact that she only turned 20, according to her father, Jabour would only say “she turned twenty-five,” and refused to comment any further.
It is unclear who uploaded the video, but in the comments under Jabour’s Facebook post, persons suggested that he was responsible for this, but it also appeared on the page of a known APNU+AFC supporter Shonelle Smith-Daniels.
Alongside the video is what appears to be the business registration of the Taco Loco restaurant in the name of the young woman.
In the video the male voice asked the young woman “Are you drunk again? Because you stole alcohol from the restaurant the last time,” as she demanded that he get off her property.
The male voice first called the young woman by her name and told her to go to the police station and later said ‘Ma’am please go to the police station, ma’am please stop trying to steal and rob us,” even as she continued to maintain that it was her property and that he needs to leave.
In a rage she picked up a chair and threw it, damaging a car in the process and later threw what appeared to be a speaker box on the ground, and after that, what sounded like glass shattering could be heard.
The owner of the car approached his car and the male speaker told him “Dah girl just damage you car” while he told the woman “You gah deal with dah man, deal with this man”.
She again told him to “Get out of my place” and he responded “You have to fix dah man car, you mad or wah?”
“Excuse ma’am go to the police station because this man is about to press charges for damaging his car,” the male continued.
She in turn said “Sorry sir” and the male speaker responded “Sorry can’t fix nothing because you just damage duh, you just bruk dah”.
‘Ma’am please go upstairs because we are going to press charges…okay, I don’t know if you drunk I don’t know what you situation is but clearly you are mentally unstable, please go upstairs, please leave us alone or we are going to go to the police after this,” the male continued.
“I am mentally unstable?” the young woman questioned before she once again told him to “Get out of my place”.
The male then called the young woman by her name twice and asked her if she had enough and continued “we know the law and we know you all are trying to steal this place to make money for you all self…”
“Take it and go, take and go sir, take and go,” she responded adding “The registration is in my name, sign it over in your name and go, I don’t want nothing, I don’t want money”.
“You can’t get money, you didn’t put money,” the male responded and she again said she did not want money and the male said she could not get money as she invested no money in the business.
“You didn’t put money either” she said calling the name of a third party who she said put money in the business.
The video then ended.
‘My daughter is sick’
A man who identified himself to this newspaper as the young woman’s father, said he had given the Thomas Street location to his daughter in December 2018 but he is unclear as to the opening of the business but says that he still pays the light bill for the building.
He labelled the behaviour of the male in the video as “very harsh and disgusting” stating that it is only after suffering mental abuse that the young woman in frustration went to get Jabour out of the location. He said even he had attempted to get Jabour out of the property by changing the locks but to no avail.
“My daughter is sick right now, he made her sick you know like when you pounding something all the time and then it collapse well that is it with my daughter,” he said of the young woman whom he said celebrated her twentieth birthday yesterday.
“She is my only daughter and I love her more than anything in this world. My daughter is (unwell), my daughter attend the University of Guyana and went to one of the best secondary schools,” the frustrated man continued.
He later said his daughter is receiving assistance and they want Jabour to exit their Thomas Street property.
‘Father and young entrepreneur’
In his statement Jabour said he is a father, an entrepreneur, and a young politician, all of which comes with tremendous responsibility that he takes seriously.
“As a father and entrepreneur, my primary responsibility is to earn an honest living to provide for my family through the business I run. It appears that a simple matter, not uncommon to the world of business, in which there is a dispute among business partners, has entered the realm of social media and attracted attention and generated opinions without any substantive basis and credible facts,” Jabour said, adding that “This is a private matter that is soon to engage the Courts if it is not resolved amicably.”
He accused persons of imputing “certain qualities to my character and create doubt in the minds of the public about my integrity”.
“This is a mischievous misrepresentation of facts, of my character and what would appear to be nothing more than a tasteless attempt by the desperate perpetrators to retaliate against anyone who stands up against the heist of democracy,” he further said.
According to him this has been the modus operandi of the caretaker agents of government charged with operating the propaganda machinery, “that is, to discredit anyone who is consistently calling for the caretaker government to accept their defeat at the March 2nd elections.”
“I maintain that I am a law-abiding citizen and I have not committed any infractions of the law, and intend to fully vindicate my name and character as the allegations being levelled against me are without merit. I ask everyone who has viewed the content referred to, regardless of your political affiliation, not to lower yourselves to perpetuating false rumours and accusations recklessly made and calculated to injure my reputation,” he ended the statement by saying.
