Waitress bullies fined

Four men responsible for the relentless bullying of a teenage waitress  - who later killed herself - have been convicted and fined a total of AU$115,000 (NZ$145,000).

The company which runs Cafe Vamp in Victoria's Hawthorn area, MAP Foundation Pty Ltd, was convicted and fined AU$220,000 (NZ$277,000) after it and the four defendants pleaded guilty to charges issued by WorkSafe Victoria.

Magistrate Peter Lauritsen ordered cafe owner Marc Da Cruz, 43, Nicholas Smallwood, 26, Rhys MacAlpine, 28, and Gabriel Toomey, 23, and MAP Foundation to pay a total of AU$335,000 (NZ$422,000).

A coroner last year implicated MacAlpine and the cafe owner, his company and two other former employees in the physical and emotional bullying of Brodie Panlock, 19, at Cafe Vamp between 2005 and 2006.

Coroner Peter White found she was treated in an "extremely aggressive and intimidating" manner at the Glenferrie Road business.

On the evidence of a former workmate, Mr White described manager Nicholas Smallwood and MacAlpine as "relentless in their efforts to demean her".

Ms Panlock, described at the inquest by a co-worker as chirpy and compassionate, threw herself from a multi-storey car park in September 2006.

During earlier hearings, tearful family and friends of Ms Panlock heard distressing details in court of her ordeal at Cafe Vamp.

Ms Panlock's distressed mother Rae had to leave court several times as Mr Lauritsen delivered his findings.

Prosecutor Gary Livermore told a pre-sentence hearing on Friday that witnesses had seen Smallwood and MacAlpine pour fish oil into Ms Panlock's kitbag and then pour it over her hair and clothes, reducing her to tears.

He said they had also engaged in indirect bullying, such as calling her fat and ugly, spitting on her, gossiping, exclusion and failing to intervene when she was being bullied.

He said Da Cruz was aware of the bullying and on occasions told them to ''take it out the back''.

Mr Lauritsen was told that Ms Panlock had tried to commit suicide in May 2006 by ingesting rat poison with beer after being rejected by Smallwood, with whom she'd had an intimate relationship.

Mr Livermore said that after that incident Smallwood put rat poison in her bag, and MacAlpine urged her to take it, while her tormenters had taunted her about her attempted suicide.

The three men no longer work at the cafe.

Smallwood was on Monday morning told he had lost his job in Queensland.

- with AAP

- © Fairfax NZ News