WARNING – DISTRESSING CONTENT: Baby Luka was with his mum when a complete stranger poured boiling hot coffee over him, sparking public outrage and a worldwide manhunt
A heartless thug who poured boiling hot coffee over a nine-month old baby boy is still on the run, with police insisting they are “working hard” to try and find the attacker nearly one year on.
Nine-month-old Luka was with his mum and friends at a picnic at Hanlon Park in Coorparoo, Brisbane when a man, unknown to the group, threw coffee over the infant. The random attack in August last year sparked public outrage and it’s believed the attacker, a 33-year-old male, has since fled Australia.
Queensland Police Service Acting Commissioner Shane Chelepy issued an update on the investigation on Thursday. He told radio station 4BC that investigations into the “horrible incident” were ongoing.
“This was a horrible incident that happened almost a year ago, it struck our investigators pretty hard,” he said. “I give credit to those investigators, they’re still working very hard on this, this isn’t something we’ve parked in a corner; this was a very serious offence, and we’re working hard on it.
“What I can say is we’re still working with our international partners to progress this matter and to get a resolution here. We’ve got a range of investigative strategies.”
Detectives believe the attacker is a 33-year-old Chinese national who left Australia and returned to China via New Zealand shortly after the incident. Acting Commissioner Chelepy said he did not “want to compromise investigative strategies” when he was asked on air if Queensland Police had sent detectives to China.
Luka suffered life-threatening burns to his face, upper body and arm as a result of the attack and, in total, sustained burns to 60 per cent of his body. The suspected attacker was captured on CCTV footage fleeing the scene but, despite those CCTV images being circulated worldwide, the attacker remains at large.
According to Chinese media reports, the man had been in Australia on multiple visas and worked at various sites along the East Coast. Luka had been happily enjoying the trip out and playing with a toy truck before the attack, with images taken afterwards showing the youngster swaddled in bandages and in pain.
Friends at the time said the distraught and frantic mum had yelled “my baby, my baby”, describing the incident as a “callous, random attack” on a baby who “does not deserve this pain and suffering”. Disturbing footage taken while Luka was in hospital shows him screaming in pain, with medics having wrapped him in cling film to prevent infections.
Luka’s mother revealed in November that he has “healed really well”, although he is “a bit wary of people” since the incident. Speaking to the Courier Mail she said: “In those first few weeks, we had no idea what his future was going to look like, especially because the burns were so significant. He’s healed really well and baby skin is amazing and the synthetic skin graft that they did worked really well.”