An apprentice tradie who earns extra money at McDonald’s at weekends has been left bloodied and bruised after being attacked by thugs.
Khoby Dawson, 22, was working a late night shift at Raymond Terrace restaurant, north of Newcastle, on March 16 when the group of up to 10 unruly teenagers started causing trouble at around 1.20am.
Mr Dawson had asked them to leave the restaurant because they were drinking alcohol and the group became irate.
CCTV footage from the restaurant shows the group challenging the apprentice plumber over the counter and throwing plastic utensils at him and other staff.
They then started pushing him and shouting ‘do you want to fight’ before one of them is caught punching him in the face, leading to a brawl.
Khoby Dawson, 22, is pictured being attacked
The footage showed Mr Dawson being hit in the head several times before his colleague, Luke, began to fend them off with a grill scraper.
Both workers tried to flee behind the counter as the group continued to push forward.
The attack left Mr Dawson with a bloody nose and a cut to his left eye.
He credited Luke with courageously intervening, saying, “If he wasn’t there, I don’t know what the outcome could have been.”
The restaurant’s 18-year-old manager had been hiding in a back room during the entire altercation when they called police, who arrived about 20 minutes later.
Police have since arrested and charged six boys aged between 13 and 17 over the incident.
All were granted strict conditional bail and will appear in the children’s court on May 15.
A NSW Police spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia that “further arrests are expected” as the investigation continues.
Anyone with information is asked to contact police.
Mr Dawson called on McDonald’s to increase safety measures at the restaurant over the weekend to protect their staff from similar incidents.
“I would like to see changes in policies and things like that where we can lock the front doors to prevent a whole crowd of people from coming in when we only have a limited number of employees,” he said. 9News.
Khoby Dawson, 22, was left with a bleeding nose and a cut above his eye as a result of the attack (pictured) at the McDonald’s in Raymond Terrace
A McDonald’s Australia spokesperson said “the safety and well-being of our people and customers is our top priority.”
‘We have a zero-tolerance policy towards anti-social behavior and do not accept abuse, intimidation, threats or violence towards our employees or customers.’
The spokesperson added that the Raymond Terrace restaurant already has a number of security procedures in place, including 24-hour CCTV and alarms.
The restaurant recently hired security guards for ‘night shifts from Friday to Sunday’.
“We will continue to provide our full support to the crew and their families, and regularly review safety procedures to ensure the safety and well-being of our people and customers,” the spokesperson said.