The mother of a baby who had scalding hot coffee poured over him in a public park is struggling to leave the house since the attack as a crime expert warned the perpetrator may never face justice.
Nine-month-old Luka was on a picnic with his mother in Hanlon Park, Brisbane, when the man approached them around midday on August 27.
Luka has undergone seven surgeries since the random attack three weeks ago.
She was left with severe burns on her chest, neck and face after a foreign national allegedly threw a thermos filled with boiling coffee on her and immediately fled the scene.
Her mother, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, says her life will never be the same and she still finds it difficult to leave the house.
“Yesterday I went out alone for the first time since then, to do something for myself… and I was having a panic attack and upset the whole time,” she said. He told ABC.
«Luka may not remember it, but we all will.»
An international law specialist at the Australian National University, Professor Donald Rothwell, told the publication that the 33-year-old suspect could be “difficult to locate” after he fled the country within days of the incident.
The mother of a baby who was scalded when a coffee thermos fell on him said she now struggles to leave the house without having a panic attack.
Nine-month-old Luka was on a picnic with his mother in Hanlon Park, Brisbane, when the man approached them around midday on August 27.
The main suspect, a 33-year-old foreigner, was able to flee the country on August 30.
Professor Rothwell warned the case may never be solved because the foreign national left Sydney airport the day before police identified him on August 31.
“If someone doesn’t want to be found – and often they don’t want to be found because they’ve fled Australia, because they’re a suspect or a fugitive in these sorts of matters – they can also be very difficult to locate,” Professor Rothwell said.
He added that unless the man surrenders voluntarily, there will be nothing investigators can do to extradite him to Queensland.
Professor Rothwell added that numerous factors such as the man’s notoriety and current location could become obstacles to the “legal and political process that must be followed”.
The extradition process “could be complicated and lengthy” for the police, he added.
If the suspect has fled to a country that does not have an extradition treaty with Australia, this “could also create an additional set of challenges”.
As the search for the perpetrator continues, Luka’s mother revealed that the family’s life has changed forever.
Luka suffered life-threatening injuries and remains in Queensland Children’s Hospital.
His mother said his recovery has been complicated because of his young age.
Doctors told her family that if the same thing had happened to an adult, they would have been able to offer skin grafts immediately, which cannot be easily done on a baby.
Detective Inspector Paul Dalton said the main culprit fled the country less than 12 hours before police were able to identify him.
Officials are unwilling to specify which country the man fled to for fear it could jeopardise their ongoing investigation.
Luka suffered life-threatening burns to his chest, neck and face and has so far undergone seven surgeries at Queensland Children’s Hospital.
CCTV footage captured the man running through several suburbs during his escape.
Luka’s mother told the publication that the thought of her son’s attacker never facing justice made her feel “sick.”
The “cruel and unprovoked” attack has changed his family’s life “forever” and they will be “furious” if the man is never caught, he said.
CCTV footage captured the suspect fleeing on foot through several Brisbane suburbs immediately after allegedly spilling his thermos while Luka’s mother remained in the park screaming for help.
It is important that the culprit is caught because “it is not fair that he can get away with it and live a normal life after having affected us forever,” added the mother.
Much of Luka’s childhood will be taken up by dealing with the scars, but his mother hopes Tuesday’s surgery will be Luka’s last.
Doctors may still need to graft skin from Luka’s thigh in the near future.