Confronting moment Woolies worker bashed

Shocking footage has shown the moment a female Woolworths employee, 19, was attacked by a customer in front of horrified shoppers.

Shocking footage has shown the moment a teenage Woolworths worker was violently attacked in front of horrified customers.

In CCTV footage of the incident shared with Channel 9, the employee is seen in uniform at the checkout area of Woolworths Clifford Gardens in Toowoomba, Queensland.

She is speaking with a customer, and points at something beyond the cash registers.

Suddenly, the employee raises her arms to protect her face, moments before a customer lunges into the frame and begins punching her in the head repeatedly.

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#EXCLUSIVE: Shocking footage captures the moment a Woolworths worker is attacked by a customer at a Toowoomba store on Friday. #9Newspic.twitter.com/CWWmGOMCjO

— 9News Australia (@9NewsAUS) February 19, 2023

A bystander attempts to intervene but the assault lasts several seconds, before the violent customer is chased away.

It’s unclear what sparked the incident but it’s understood the woman was asking the customer to leave the store.

The incident is with Queensland Police, who have the power to place prohibition notices on specific customers, which ban them from returning to the store.

Queensland Police told news.com.au officers were “investigating reports of an assault at an Anzac Ave, Toowoomba City, business on Friday, 17 February, just after 7pm, where a 19-year-old woman sustained a facial injury.”

“Investigations are ongoing, police encourage anyone with information to come forward,” they said.

The customer lunged at the employee. Picture: Channel 9

Before punching her repeatedly. Picture: Channel 9

A Woolworths spokesperson condemned the attack, which occurred on Friday, amid an uptick in attacks against retail workers.

“There is no place for this kind of abusive behaviour anywhere in our community,” the spokesperson said.

“Our team members do the very best they can to help customers, and deserve to be treated with respect on the job.

“We don’t tolerate abuse in any circumstance and have taken steps to ban the customer from returning to the store.”

More than 85 per cent of retail workers report being abused, including verbally, while on the job, according to polling carried out by the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association.

The SDA, the national union for retail, fast food and warehouse workers, launched the No One Deserves a Serve campaign in 2017 and says customer assaults on employees have only increased since Covid.

The worker was seemingly simply doing her job. Picture: Channel 9

She attempted to shield her face from the attack. Picture: Channel 9

Last year, an OnlyFans foot model was accused of stabbing a 44-year-old Woolies worker while she stocked shelves in the pet food aisle.

OnlyFans performer Cassandra Hickling, then 35, stabbed Woolworths employee Donna Grocott in a seemingly random attack in the Ellenbrook store in Perth.

Hickling was initially charged with attempted murder, but the charge was later dropped. She pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of carrying out an act with intent to endanger life.

Last month, a woman was restrained and escorted from a Darwin Woolworths after allegedly verbally abusing and lunging at staff. Also last month, an Alice Springs store was locked down after a young boy entered wielding a machete.

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