HELL'S KITCHEN — A fired employee who threatened to kill the owner of a Ninth Avenue kebab house and harassed staffers late last year returned again to wreak more havoc — slapping a worker and flipping a table at the eatery last week, police said.
Shafi Rouzyi, who authorities said has a history of making threats both inside and outside the restaurant, was ordered by a judge not to enter the Afghan Kebab House at 764 Ninth Ave. back in October after he went inside with a knife and told the owner he would kill him.
But on Feb. 10, Rouzyi, 44, returned to the eatery around 2 p.m. and slapped a 24-year-old employee in the back of the head before flipping over a table and breaking between 10 and 15 glasses, according to police and a complaint filed with the Manhattan District Attorney’s office.
A judge first ordered Rouzyi, of Queens, to stay away from the restaurant and its owner, Masbaul Talukder, on Oct. 9, after Rouzyi went into the restaurant with a knife on Oct. 3 and told Talukder he would kill him, court documents and Talukder said.
Rouzyi is the son of Talukder’s business partner, the owner told DNAinfo.
During the October incident, he also took $80 from the eatery’s cash register, said police, who arrested him two days later and charged him with robbery and weapons possession.
After Rouzyi made his $2,500 bail and was released from custody on Oct. 10, he started calling the restaurant and harassing its employees, telling one staffer over the phone that he would “make [his] face bloody and kill [him],” authorities and witnesses said.
In November, Talukder told DNAinfo that his "life is on the line."
“I went to the hospital [after the October incident] because I thought I was having a heart attack," he said.
It was fortunate that he wasn't at the kebab house when Rouzyi showed up last week, he said on Thursday.
“Luckily I was not there,” he said. “If I was there, maybe something would have happened.”
Rouzyi was arrested and charged with criminal contempt for last week's incident, the DA’s office said.
He was released from custody on Tuesday after paying an unspecified bail, New York City Department of Correction records showed.
A grand jury chose to indict Rouzyi on the criminal charges, and his arraignment is scheduled for March 15, court record said.
Rouzyi has also been arrested for several incidents outside the restaurant, including an Oct. 4 episode during which he showed up at the home of a relative and threatened him with a knife, saying “give me your money or I’ll kill you,” according to a complaint filed with the Queens District Attorney’s office.
He was arrested and charged with menacing and harassment for that incident three months later, on Jan. 6, court records show.
In February 2015, Rouzyi was arrested after threatening to kill his wife, breaking a television and other property in her apartment and putting a hole in the wall, prosecutors said.
On Thursday, Talukder said some of his employees are afraid of coming to the restaurant
He worries Rouzyi could return before his arraignment in March, but said he was “not going to sit at home.”
“Anytime he will walk in with a gun or a knife, any minute,” he said.
He was also concerned that these repeat incidents would eventually affect the business.
“There’s enough restaurants in Hell’s Kitchen — why would they come to a place where police are frequent visitors?” Talukder asked.
The restaurant owner also expressed dismay over what he called slow response times by police, claiming they often took hours to show up after he called them to report an incident.
“I pay taxes, police are supposed to protect me,” he said.
An attorney for Rouzyi could not be reached for comment on Wednesday or Thursday.
