The mother of a baby who was doused in hot coffee is ‘extremely frustrated’ with police after her son’s attacker was able to flee overseas.
The woman and her son had been on a picnic with his mother in Hanlon Park, in Brisbane’s inner south east, on August 27 when a stranger allegedly approached them and tipped a thermos of scalding coffee over the infant before fleeing.
The baby suffered serious burns to his face, upper body and arms and has undergone over five operations in Queensland Children’s Hospital.
He faces multiple further surgeries and some of the scars will be long-lasting.
On Monday afternoon, Detective Inspector Paul Dalton confirmed the family’s worst fears that the suspect had fled .
The 33-year-old man flew out of Sydney Airport on August 31 with his own passport – just 12 hours before police confirmed his identity.
Detectives know his name and nationality but are refusing to reveal it publicly for fear of jeopardising the investigation.
But Luka’s mother, who asked to remain anonymous, has slammed the cops for keeping her and her partner in the dark.
‘They do know his name and they know what country he’s from but they haven’t disclosed to us either which is extremely frustrating,’ Luka’s mother told the Kyle & Jackie O show on Friday morning.
KIIS FM host Kyle Sandilands, who himself if a new dad, volunteered to hunt the attacker overseas and was incensed by the secrecy.
‘Why are they protecting this guy who has done one of the most horrendous things a human could do? Why is he being protected while you and Luka suffer?’, he fumed.
Luka’s mother said she was under the impression that releasing the man’s identity would hinder the investigation.
‘Somehow releasing this information would jeopardise the case because they have to work with the country that he’s in to extradite him back to ,’ she said.
‘I don’t know how it works. Every time they speak to me I don’t understand what they are saying. I just want justice. I want to know all the information but they’re not giving it.’
Daily Mail has approached Queensland Police for comment.
Jackie O Henderson fought back tears during the interview.
‘I can’t even imagine how awful it must feel to know that this guy is not even here in the country. How can someone do something so horrible,’ she said.
‘You can’t imagine that kind of evil and your poor, poor bubba.’
Henderson asked Luka’s mother if she had ever encountered the culprit before.
‘For the first few days all I was thinking about was “Have I met this person before? What have I done wrong? What happened?”,’ Luka’s mother responded.
‘Because to me, hurting a baby is beyond anything I would imagine doing. He has to be a psychopath or something.’
Sandilands repeated his criticism of the vague and ‘woke’ description authorities provided of the alleged perpetrator who was reported as having ‘tanned’ skin rather than be more specific and say he was of Asian appearance.
The radio shock jock, 53, dismissed it as ‘woke bulls***’ and asked Luka’s mother whether she thought it hindered the search.
‘I have thought about all of the things that have been released and not been released and maybe if there was more CCTV footage released maybe someone would have recognised him,’ Luka’s mother responded.
She added: ‘I can’t fathom him getting away with this and living a normal life when it’s affected us for the rest of our lives.’
She said the little boy was ‘doing good’ despite having to attend hospital for yet another surgery on Friday morning.
‘It’s every four days for the next four weeks and then after that it’s once a week for two weeks.’
She added: ‘There will always be scarring unfortunately.’
‘I have thought about all of the things that have been released and not been released and maybe if there was more CCTV footage released maybe someone would have recognised him,’ Luka’s mother responded.
She added: ‘I can’t fathom him getting away with this and living a normal life when it’s affected us for the rest of our lives.’
She said the little boy was ‘doing good’ despite having to attend hospital for yet another surgery on Friday morning.
‘It’s every four days for the next four weeks and then after that it’s once a week for two weeks.’
She added: ‘There will always be scarring unfortunately.’
The hosts vowed to donate $10,000 to the GoFundMe set up to help raise funds for Luka’s hospital treatment, adding to the $160,000 already donated.
Luka’s mother previously told Daily Mail that his ‘little gurgle’ was what gave her the strength to keep going.
‘That little gurgle of his, it’s what gives me strength just to know that he’s going to get through all this and that he is going to be ok,’ she said.
‘Hearing him laugh again for the first time absolutely melted my heart – it’s what gives me courage and positivity for the future.’
Police were able to track baby Luka’s alleged attacker to the southern Brisbane suburb of Tarragindi, where he changed his clothes outside a church.
He then caught a rideshare car into central Brisbane, before moving onto Caxton Street where the trail initially went cold until he was found to have fled the country.
Queensland Police Detective Inspector Paul Dalton said the accused was ‘aware of police methodologies’ and had been ‘conducting counter-surveillance activities’ in the days after the attack.
He eventually managed to slip out of Sydney Airport on his own passport undetected.
‘This is probably one of the most complex and sometimes frustrating investigations I’ve had to be involved in and lead,’ he said on Monday.
Detective Inspector Dalton said the man was clearly ‘aware of what we [the police] do to find people’ and that their efforts to catch him had been initially delayed after he was wrongly identified as a different man.
He said the attack was the ‘most cowardly’ he had witnessed in his career.
‘A young mother and a baby sitting on the ground and you are allegedly approaching them from behind,’ Det Insp Dalton said.
‘Can you think of anything more vulnerable than that? And to take advantage of that? You’re probably right, it’s one of the most disgusting ones I’ve come across.’