Chilling scene outside cafe one day after barista violently assaulted

News.com.au

01-07-2025

The initial assault still sits uneasy in the mind of Melbourne cafe owner Moustafa Saoud.
But it's what happened the next morning that made him give up his dream and walk away.
Mr Saoud was the victim of a brutal and completely unprovoked attack inside his Eleven: 11 cafe on Buckley Street in Footscray last week.
Confronting CCTV footage of the attack shows a hooded man walk through the front doors, approach Mr Saoud behind the counter and throw a punch directly at his mouth.
In the vision, Mr Saoud scrambles for safety but the assault continues.
When his attacker is done, he calmly walks back out the front door.
Mr Saoud told news.com.au that the most chilling part of the attack was that not a single word was uttered.
'He didn't say anything. Even when he left he didn't say anything.'
But Mr Saoud, who opened the cafe in November last year — hence the name — said what happened the next day was worse. It was what tipped him over the edge and confirmed his decision to close permanently.
He told news.com.au that he made a police report on the Friday night that the attack took place, but the man who attacked him returned to the cafe the following morning.
'He came on Saturday morning to my cafe and asked for a cigarette. I gave him one and he stayed outside. But after 10 minutes I went to check if he was still hanging around.'
Mr Saoud said what he saw when he went outside was horrifying.
'He had cut himself with a knife and there was blood everywhere. Police and ambulance came. I saw him on the floor, there was so much blood.'
He said the possibility that his attacker was carrying a knife at the time of the assault was chilling.
'That's why I'm scared. Maybe next time he was going to use the knife.'
Mr Saoud, who opened the cafe with the help of his brothers, said his mum had begged him to close.
'She said, 'please don't go there anymore'. My brother said, 'let's close the cafe, it's not worth it'.'
Footscray, which sits 5km west of the Melbourne CBD, has seen crime rates explode in the last few years, driven in large part by drug activity.
There were 3530 criminal incidents recorded in Footscray last year, up from 2797 the year before.
Assaults were at a record high in 2025 when 380 were reported to police. Four years ago, there was exactly half that number, according to data from the Crime Statistics Agency.
The attack on Mr Saoud came just five days after veteran photographer Dominic O'Brien, 62, died after allegedly being attacked in Footscray.
Mr O'Brien was allegedly assaulted on Nicholson Street in Footscray on June 15.
Lominja Friday Yokoju, 43, is accused of approaching Mr O'Brien before striking him and stomping on his head as he lay on the ground.
The former high court immigration detainee was charged with intentionally causing serious injury.
The charge was later upgraded to murder. Yokoju has not entered a plea and was remanded until October 20.
Mr O'Brien was a respected photographer who worked with major publications including The Australian and The Age.
In April, Footscray was also the scene of a fatal shooting. Officers arrived on the corner of Paisley and Albert streets on April 17. Abdinasir Abdullahi Salad, a Somali refugee, allegedly rushed at the officers with a knife when they fatally shot him.
It has been reported that Salad was homeless and had mental health issues.
The Coroners Court of Victoria heard the 35-year-old had stolen a knife from the nearby Kmart store and that police yelled, 'don't move, drop the knife' before the shooting.
In March, there was another violent incident in Footscray. Video obtained by the Herald Sun showed a woman hurling a beer keg into a shopfront over and over before grabbing shards of glass and running at bystanders.
She was tackled to the ground in an incident that locals said was becoming all too familiar.
A month earlier, a man was left fighting for his life after a machete attack in the same suburb.
CCTV of that incident showed a brawl spilling onto the street before one man allegedly pulled a machete and stabbed a 24-year-old several times.
Mr Saoud said crime is being fuelled by drugs and that it is worse now than it was when he first opened.
'When I opened, it was alright. It was beautiful, nice and quiet. It's a great community. It started getting worse.
'It's not nice. Everybody is worried about their kids. Customers always say they are worried. They're scared to walk around after 6pm.'
He said walking away from the cafe was a difficult decision, emotionally and financially. He is locked in to a lease and needs somebody to take it over before he can move on.
'Nobody is going to want to do that,' he said.