Worldwide Hunt Begins For Man Who Threw Hot Coffee On Australian Baby And Fled

The hunt for a man who allegedly poured hot coffee on an Australian baby has turned into an international issue after the police discovered that he fled the country on August 31. The August 27 attack left the baby with severe burns on his chin, neck, chest and back from the scalding hot coffee. The man’s motive is yet to be identified by the police.

The baby, yet known only as Luka, was sitting with his mother on a random picnic rug in a Brisbane park. Another mother and her baby were with them when the mishap happened as per the reports from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).         

A gigantic mishap on a random picnic rug              

However, immediately after the attack, an off-duty nurse took the baby to her nearby home and ran cold water over the burns on his body. He was then taken to the Queensland Children’s Hospital. The baby had undergone multiple skin graft operations for his burns and marks. A GoFundMe page has reportedly raised about $135,000 ($150,000 in Australian Dollars) so far.

Police Detective Inspector Paul Dalton said that the respective force is working with international authorities to track down the accused man. He has been identified as a 33-year-old foreign national, reports The Strait Times. Not wanting to jeopardize the investigation, Dalton claimed that the police are withholding the suspect’s name and the country he fled to.

Meanwhile, there was a closed-circuit television video that was released by police which shows the man running from the scene. In the same, he is wearing a blue plaid shirt, a black hat, and glasses. Dalton said police were able to put a name to the man’s face shown on CCTV. However, the initial elation was dispelled when police discovered the man had flown from the Sydney airport just 12 hours before, using his passport, according to ABC reports.

Police discovered he took a taxi to Brisbane’s city centre, then drove by car across the state border to New South Wales before flying from Sydney Airport.

Why did the man harm the baby? 

Early efforts by police were hampered by false information about the man’s name. During their investigation, Police also discovered how the man had been conducting surveillance of the police operation. “It soon became apparent to us that this person was aware of police methodologies, was certainly conducting counter surveillance activities, which made the investigation quite complex,” Dalton was quoted as saying by CNN. Dalton called the man an “itinerant worker” who had repeatedly entered Australia on various visas since 2019 and last entered the country in January 2022.

Corresponding to this, the baby’s parents said they were devastated to hear that the man had fled.“I feel relief that he’s not in this country, in some sense, but I will always have fear and anxiety being out in public with my son,” the baby’s mother said. The boy’s father said the child was in “good spirits. He was walking around the ward just before, he doesn’t want to sit still,” he told ABC.

However, the parents said the baby’s recovery would take years. “It’s not just those surgeries. Afterwards, it’s laser, needling, massage, making sure movement isn’t affected,” his mother said. Police have issued an arrest warrant citing acts intending to cause grievous bodily harm, the BBC reports. The charge carries a possible life sentence. Dalton did not rule out sending Queensland detectives overseas to investigate.