A RESTAURANT worker savagely kicked in the head during a robbery in a Hampshire street required treatment from a specialist surgeon for his injuries.

The staff member from Kuti’s in Fair Oak was kept in hospital overnight after being violently attacked by a man who then stole the evening’s takings – more than £1,000 – from him.

Police are now sifting through CCTV in their hunt for the robber, who struck without warning in the early hours of Sunday as two workers walked home from the popular curry house.

Both men were injured in the unprovoked attack, but while one escaped with bruising, his colleague who was carrying the cash was left with severe cuts to his face, as well as further cuts and bruises to his arms and legs.

Kamal Miah, from Kuti’s told the Daily Echo: “His injuries looked gruesome.

His forehead was completely opened up.

“He had to be kept in overnight to wait for a specialist surgeon to come in and stitch it up properly or his eyebrow would have been a real mess, and it took him an hour and a half.

“He’s really shaken up, and it’s affected his confidence – he’s just trying to come to terms with what happened.”

Mr Miah said two men, both in their early twenties, were spotted sitting on a bench opposite the Fair Oak Road restaurant as staff closed up after a busy evening, and he believes one may be responsible for the 1.15am attack, just half a mile away near Stamford Way.

He said there was no way anyone would be able to tell without knowing that the worker was carrying a large amount of cash, and measures have already been put in place to ensure staff don’t have to carry money at the end of a night.

Mr Miah said: “The two guys were sitting outside monitoring the situation and they must have seen them cashing up at the end of the night.

“It wasn’t obvious at all when he was walking down the street that he had anything on him.

“There wasn’t even a threat first, it was just an assault, and it was very violent. He just jumped him, got him on the floor and kicked him in the face.

“Fair Oak isn’t Brixton and the whole village is in shock. It’s a small community and we all want to work together to find out who is responsible.”

Anyone with any information can call Eastleigh CID on 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.