Electrical goods giant JB Hi-Fi is in strife after it allegedly banned a man with Down Syndrome from entering its Mount Ommaney store in south-west Brisbane.
James Milne was refused entry by the store’s security guard, naturally infurating his family. However, it appears it’s all a case of mistaken identity with reports saying the guard had mistaken James for another, similar looking customer, who had been banned.
James’ sister Victoria (pictured above) took to Facebook to voice her displeasure and the post has been shared 25,000 times as of the morning and the story picked up by a number of media outlets.
Ms Milne wrote to Facebook: “I have never been so disgusted and mad in my life. Today at JB Hi-Fi Mt Ommaney, when my dad and my brother (who has Down Syndrome) entered the store the security guard immediately stepped in front of my brother and said that he wasn’t allowed in the store.
“My dad, confused, asked “Why not?” and the security guard said that he had my brother’s photo and he wasn’t allowed in. My dad asked to see the manager and while he is being called, the security guard goes through his phone to find a photo of the young man that they think is my brother. When my dad and the manager are shown a photo of a white male who also had Down’s syndrome, my dad says it’s clearly not James, who has olive skin, and the manager replied ‘well they look the same’.
“Despite the evidence that my brother had been mistaken for another young man, the manager still refused to let him in.”
As of this morning, JB Hi-Fi had not made any comment which led to local Ipswich councillor, Paul Tully, taking to Twitter to air his displeasure over the unsavoury incident.
Tully has called the incident “disgusting” and started an online petition for the retailer to address the matter.
Image taken from Victoria Milne’s Facebook.
