Woman lashes out at Melbourne cafe worker, hits plate into her face

A worker at a Melbourne cafe whose teeth were shattered after a plate was smashed into her face has spoken of the ordeal.

Anais Poupon is a 19-year-old French national on a working holiday who has only been in Australia for a few months.

Shocking CCTV captured the moment she walked out of La Valley cafe in Essendon holding plates as a woman passed by.

The woman is seen slapping the bottom of the plates, which strike Ms Poupon’s teeth, and then smacking them onto the ground.

“My teeth broke, (there was) a lot of blood,” she told A Current Affair on Wednesday.

She said her first thought was that she would lose her teeth.

Fortunately, a local dentist offered to treat her after seeing footage of the incident.

Ms Poupon said she doesn’t know why she was targeted but said the person “told me ‘it’s your fault’.”

“At first I thought we bumped together, but no, she pushed the plate into my face and she says to me ‘it’s your fault b**ch’,” she told the Herald Sun.

The owner of the Melbourne cafe have taken to social media to try and track down the woman from the video.

He told ACA Ms Poupon was covered in food and blood when she came back into the cafe.

“I was shocked, disgusted actually to see her come in, she was crying, blood coming out of her mouth, covered in food,” the owner said.

A Melbourne cafe says it is "beyond shocked" after a "grown woman" randomly attacked a worker on Friday

Ms Poupon’s broken tooth has since been repaired and the cafe owner said other local businesses have also offered her free dinners and dessert.

Restaurant and Catering Australia president John Hart told NewsWire that hospitality workers did not deserve such treatment.

“It is so disappointing to see an example like this of somebody that has so little regard for their fellow human beings that they would do this,” he said.

“Restaurant and cafe workers are hard workers that are offering service to us each day. They don’t deserve this sort of treatment.

“It is good to see the support of local businesses – restaurants and cafe are important hubs in their communities, and businesses like the dentist in this story feel a part of these communities that the interact with every day.”

The incident happened at La Vallee Cafe on Keilor St in Essendon on Anzac Day.

The owners of La Vallee said they were “shocked at the abhorrent behaviour of this grown woman” in a statement posted to Instagram.

“If you know her, please send us a private message. We need assistance in identifying this individual. This incident led to one of our beautiful staff members chipping their tooth from the plate she pushed into her face,” they wrote.

There has been an outpouring of community support towards the victim in the aftermath of the incident, with several local businesses putting their hands up to offer assistance.

Healthy Smiles, a dentist on Keilor Rd, said it would fix the staff member’s tooth free of charge after the “coward’s act”.

A local steakhouse chimed in, saying that “when healthy smiles gets her teeth sorted, bring her down the road for some steaks with her family on us. Keilor Rd will stand together”.

Other local businesses also offered support by way of producing CCTV footage.

Victoria Police said it had received “reports of an assault” outside a cafe on April 25.

“The female staff member was bringing food to a table outside the premises on Keilor Rd about 1pm. A woman assaulted the staff member, knocking the plate from her hand before walking off. The staff member sustained damage to her teeth from the incident,” a Victoria Police spokeswoman said.

“The woman was wearing a black long sleeve top, light blue jeans, sunglasses and a distinctive silver necklace with a charm. She was also carrying plastic bottles of iced coffee and a black jacket.

“An investigation into the incident is under way. Anyone who witnessed the incident, has dashcam or CCTV footage is urged to contact Crime Stoppers.”