An international manhunt has been launched for a man believed to be behind an attack against a baby in Queensland, Australia, that has spurred outrage over an infant being splashed with scalding coffee at a park in the northern Australia state of Queensland.
Detective Inspector Paul Dalton from the Queensland Police said on Monday that teams of detectives from other countries were working with police to find the man, a 33-year-old foreign national presumed to have fled the country four days after the alleged assault.
It is alleged that while sitting with his mother on the grass at Hanlon Park in Brisbane back on August 27, the man threw the scalding hot drink on the nine-month-old child, known only as Luka, causing severe burns to his face, arms, and legs.
The police have released closed-circuit television footage of the man running away from the scene. He is wearing a black hat, glasses, and a blue checkered shirt.
Dalton assumed the wrong information regarding identifying the man, and personal observation of the suspect viewing police action provided a basis for the lateness of early investigations.
“We soon came to the realization that this man had knowledge of policing practices and was certainly conducting countersurveillance, which complicated the investigation,” Dalton told journalists.
After the assault, the man hailed a taxi in the middle of Brisbane, crossed into New South Wales by car, and then flew out from Sydney Airport on August 31.
“We weren’t able to identify the face in the CCTV until September 1st,” Dalton said, refusing to delve into details of who the man was or where he was for fear of compromising the investigation.
“I was in the investigation center when we put a name to the face, and it was a very happy room-only to do a check in 15 minutes and find out we lost him,” Dalton told reporters after police had identified the guy soon after he ran away.
Dalton said the suspect had been an “itinerant worker” travelling to and from Australia on various visas since 2019. He had last been back in the country in January 2022. At the very least, authorities can’t determine the man’s
“I am scratching my head all the time. There is no motive,” Dalton said. You would think nothing like this came to someone’s mind, that a sensible, average person wouldn’t do anything like that. Unfortunately, it isn’t always so.
The boy’s mother, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, told local media at the time of the incident that it was all very quick and chaotic.
The mother said, “I just started screaming for help and yelling out that it was hot and that my son was burnt. I didn’t really understand what had happened at the time.”
Passersby ran to douse him with water before the boy was rushed to the hospital, where he reportedly endured multiple surgeries for third-degree burns covering his chin, neck, chest, and back.
At the time, police released CCTV footage of the man and asked anyone who knew him to come forward.
“The video is obvious. On August 28, Dalton told the reporters, “I’m very confident that if you’re looking at that footage and you know that person in there, you’re going to know who it is.”
The investigation took police to Victoria and New South Wales, where the man had lived in several houses while holding numerous work and holiday visas.
The police said they had talked with his colleagues about his movements.
