A woman has been charged after allegedly smacking plates out of a waitress’s hands, leaving the young worker with a chipped tooth in Melbourne.
The 52-year-old woman was arrested at Dandenong Railway Station about 10.50am on Saturday, almost a month after the alleged assault.
French national Anais Poupon, 19, who is in Australia on a working holiday visa, was serving customers at La Vallee Cafe in Essendon on Anzac Day when she was allegedly assaulted about 1pm.
CCTV footage shows the older woman walking past Poupon, who was carrying three plates of food, before allegedly striking one of the plates into her face, then smashing it to the ground.
The woman then walked away while Poupon stood frozen in shock.
Poupon was left bloodied and suffered a chipped tooth.
After the incident, La Vallee Cafe shared the CCTV footage on Instagram, asking the community to help identify the woman.
Poupon, who has been in Australia for about a year, said the woman blamed her for what happened.
“I felt very bad,” Poupon said.
“I saw my teeth broke and a lot of blood and I thought at first I could lose my teeth.”
Poupon said she called her mother after the incident saying she was OK and had already been to the dentist.
“My mum was very scared but she said she can’t do anything in France,” she said.
The Footscray woman has since been charged with recklessly causing injury and faced the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Sunday.
She was bailed to reappear at Broadmeadows Magistrates’ Court on August 17.
