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

The owners of a Melbourne cafe where a worker’s tooth was chipped have taken to social media to track down the woman who slapped plates from the staff member’s hands.

The cafe owner posted footage to social media that shows the worker holding plates and standing on the alfresco area footpath as the woman walks by.

The woman slaps the bottom of the plates, which strike the worker’s tooth, and then smacks them onto the ground.

The female staff member is a French national on a working holiday who has only been in Australia for a few months, a friend says in a fundraiser.

“Anais has been struggling to find work on her working holiday and only found this job recently, which is only a few shifts a week,” the friend said on the fundraiser.

“The random female attacker just kept walking and told her to get lost and it was her fault for walking into her.

“She is now left with a big dentist bill and some scars that she can’t even afford.”

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

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

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.”