A 52-year-old woman has been charged over the brazen alleged assault of a teenage female cafe worker in Melbourne’s north.
Police allege the woman assaulted 19-year-old Anais Poupon while she was serving food outside Essendon cafe La Vallee last month.
CCTV footage posted by La Vallee in the days after the incident, which happened on April 25, appeared to show the interaction, in which the older woman alleged to have smacked several loaded plates from the worker’s hands and into her face, chipping one of her teeth in the process.
“We are beyond shocked at the abhorrent [alleged] behaviour of this grown woman,” cafe management posted on Instagram following the alleged attack. “If you know her please send us a private message … we need assistance in identifying this individual.”
Friends of Poupon, a French national on a working holiday visa, said she was severely shaken by the alleged attack.
“She is now left with a big dentist bill … and some scars that she can’t even afford,” Armando Giacon and Erika Doria said in an online fundraiser.
“She is now left traumatised and wants to leave the country.”
On Tuesday, police confirmed a 52-year-old Footscray woman had been arrested at Dandenong railway station on Saturday morning.
A police spokesperson said the woman had been charged with recklessly causing injury, and on Sunday was bailed to reappear at Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on August 17.
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