This is the horrific moment a beloved Australian cafe owner was viciously beaten for standing up to a stranger who was causing trouble.
Felix Gratano, 40, was working on his coffee machine at Lakeside Café in Gosford, on the NSW Central Coast, about 10am on Friday when a man entered the business from a nearby community center that serves the homeless.
Mr Gratano told Daily Mail Australia locals were furious because the service was closed at the time.
“Obviously he had the sh*t*, and he came over, just being verbally abusive while I was standing at the front of the store with my wife,” he said.
Mr Gratano said the man had repeatedly acted aggressively recently, including the previous week when the man threw a ‘wet floor’ sign into their cafe and verbally abused them.
Mr. Gratano had put previous incidents behind him, but tired of the man’s bad behavior, he decided it was time to take a stand for himself, his partner and their company.
“I just said, ‘mate, you know, there’s no reason to talk to us like this if you can abstain.’ In the future, you mind your business, I’ll mind mine.
“I just thought, if I don’t say anything, it will never end.”
Felix Gratano, 40, is not comfortable reopening his cafe after a vicious alleged attack in Gosford last week
The 40-year-old business owner was left battered after refusing to take revenge on the alleged attacker
‘I thought it was very nice, but it woke something up in him.
‘Then he starts going off and saying, “You’re calling me this and calling me you’re calling me a fa****” when that’s not the case. He clearly has problems.’
Mr Gratano claimed locals then charged at him, kicking over an A-frame shop sign and shouting.
The business owner claimed the man yelled at him, “I’m going to hit you.”
Gratano claims the man launched a hard hook and hit him in the side of the head, knocking him to the ground.
“It wasn’t that bad in the sense that I said, ‘OK, I can take these punches, it’s OK,’” Gratano said.
A neighboring storefront was damaged during the commotion of the alleged attack before the alleged attacker continued to punch the business owner
Gratano’s quick-thinking wife Mia, 44, began recording the incident.
The store owner decided not to retaliate, saying he didn’t know how the man would react and that he would hurt him too much.
“I just tried to protect myself as much as I could,” Gratano said.
But then the alleged perpetrator turned on Ms. Gratano when he saw her recording.
“He tried to go after her, so I got in the way, and then I grabbed him and pulled him toward me,” Gratano said.
“He continued to pass for me, which was fine, and we went through a glass window next to the door.”
Mr Gratano claimed the man then sat on his chest and continued to throw punches.
He said he simply shielded his face until a growing crowd of people scared the alleged perpetrator and he fled.
Police found the man just minutes later at a unit on Showground Road, Gosford.
There, however, the alleged rampage continued and police were forced to use pepper spray to bring him under control.
The alleged perpetrator, 40, was subsequently charged with a litany of offenses including stalking and intimidation, assault occasioning actual bodily harm, destruction or damage to property.
Police also charged him with obstructing or resisting a police officer in the execution of his duty and assaulting a police officer without actual bodily harm.
He was refused bail to appear at Parramatta Local Court on Saturday, January 11, 2025, where he was formally refused bail to appear at Gosford Local Court on Thursday.
The community has rallied behind the small cafe owners as they take a week off work following the alleged attack
Mr Gratano said he could not thank the police enough and that they were doing their job ‘very, very well’.
He said he closed his cafe this week while he recovers.
He opened the business on Monday, but after the beating he found the work physically and mentally too demanding.
He said he may extend the closure depending on the outcome of the alleged attacker’s bail hearing on Thursday.
‘We still don’t feel safe. If he were to come out, we will not reopen our cafe,” Gratano said.
On Tuesday, the cafe left a message on its community Facebook page saying they appreciated the extra support from customers on Monday.
‘However, the most important factor is the safety of Felix, Mia and our staff. Feeling safe at work is something we never want to put aside, and that has not been the case for us,” the statement said.
Many locals wrote messages of support for the owner.
‘Your safety comes first. I miss you guys,” one man said.
Others offered whatever help they could.
A GoFundMe was created to support the couple and their business now that they cannot open their doors.