A waitress who required emergency dental surgery after a vicious assault by a passerby has revealed the attacker told her 'it's your fault'. French backpacker Anais Poupon, 19, had a plate shoved into her face while working at cafe La Vallee in Essendon, north Melbourne, around 1pm on Friday.
CCTV footage shows the waitress walking around a corner holding plates to serve a table when the woman, approaching from the opposite direction, nearly collided with her. The stranger then struck the plate upward into the waitress's face and knocked the other plates to the ground.
'She told me, 'It's your fault',' Ms Poupon said. 'I'm very upset. Why this lady do that? I did nothing.' Ms Poupon also revealed she underwent emergency surgery for one of her front teeth on Tuesday.
La Vallee owner Josh Rabie described the aggressive behaviour as making him 'feel sick'. 'She's a lovely girl, she's quiet and it's the last thing you want to happen to anyone,' he said.
The Essendon community has rallied around the cafe after it shared the CCTV footage on Tuesday. 'We are beyond shocked at the... behaviour of this grown woman,' La Vallee wrote alongside the clip. 'If you know her please send us a private message. This incident led to one of our beautiful staff members chipping their tooth from the plate she pushed into her face.'
Thousands of Australians viewed and shared the video, with many condemning the woman's actions. 'Hope your staff member is okay and hope the woman is caught,' one wrote. 'Why did no one stop her? Enough just standing by and watching - citizen arrests need to happen more,' another said.
Even billionaire Melbourne local Adrian Portelli commented: 'This behaviour needs to be stamped out. It doesn't belong here.' Several local businesses offered assistance. One wrote: 'I am the owner of Healthy Smiles on Keilor Road, Niddrie, and I am more than happy to fix your staff member's front tooth free of charge.' Sear Steakhouse added: 'When healthy smiles gets her teeth sorted, bring her down the road for some steaks with her family on us.'
No charges have been laid, and Victoria Police is investigating the incident.
