Staff bullies at Melbourne Cafe Vamp prompted Brodie Panlock to commit suicide

Brodie Panlock

 Rhys MacAlpine, one Brodie Panlock's tormentors, leaves court today

 Brodie's parents, Rae and Damien Panlock.

A YOUNG waitress committed suicide after humiliating and relentless bullying by her co-workers, a court was told today.

Brodie Panlock, 19, was spat on, called fat and ugly and, on one occasion, had fish oil poured all over her hair and clothes.

One tormentor even told her to take rat poison. 

Ms Panlock, who worked at Cafe Vamp in Melbourne, jumped to her death in September 2006.

Former Vamp employees Nicholas Smallwood, Rhys MacAlpine and Gabriel Toomey have all pleaded guilty in Melbourne Magistrates' Court to failing to take reasonable care for the health and safety of persons.

The cafe's owner, Marc Luis Da Cruz, and his company MAP Foundation have pleaded guilty to two charges, including failing to provide and maintain a safe working environment.

The court was crowded with Ms Panlock's friends and family as they heard distressing details of her ordeal.

Prosecutor Gary Livermore told a pre-sentence hearing that witnesses had seen several of the accused pour fish oil into Ms Panlock's kitbag and then pour it over her, reducing her to tears.

They had also called her fat and ugly and spat on her.

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

Mr Livermore said that after that incident rat poison was put in her bag, and MacAlpine had told her to go and take it.

At a coroner's hearing in 2008, Meghan Chester, a former barista at Cafe Vamp, said Ms Panlock had no confidence in her beauty or worth.

"I have worked in the hospitality industry for 10 years, but I have never seen anything like what those ... males did to Brodie," Ms Chester said.

In the statement read to the court, Ms Chester said that the accused had taken bullying "to another level".

Ms Panlock's father told the court that he was devastated that he was not able to protect her.

"As a father, one of my main duties to my family was to protect my wife and children - I feel very upset I couldn't protect Brodie from what she went through," he said.

Her mother said that she had been on medication since her death and found it difficult to sleep.

"Brodie was such a big part of my life," she said.

Da Cruz told the court that his family was shattered by Ms Panlock's death and he had put his restaurant up for sale and was intending to move to Queensland.

SOURCE: www.news.com.au

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