The man accused of pouring scalding hot coffee over a defenceless baby is feared to be deliberately leaving a trail of “false clues” in a calculated attempt to evade justice.
Veteran investigator Charlie Bezzina said the 33-year-old foreigner may even have called in a false tip about his identity in an attempt to fool detectives and buy himself time to escape abroad.
And he said he feared the vile fugitive could strike again as he continued to engage in a sick game of cat and mouse with detectives.
This comes after Detective Inspector Paul Dalton, the investigator in charge of leading the international hunt for the man, revealed that the suspected attacker had managed to leave the country just hours before police identified him and seized his passport.
The man has been on the run since August 27 after randomly approaching a mother and her nine-month-old baby in Brisbane’s Hanlon Park before dousing the infant with hot coffee from a thermos in an unprovoked attack.
The baby was rushed to Queensland Children’s Hospital with life-threatening burns to his face, upper body and arms and has since undergone four surgeries.
Police traced the man’s movements after the incident to the Brisbane suburb of Tarragindi, where he changed clothes outside a church.
He then took a rideshare into central Brisbane, before moving to Caxton Street in the city’s inner west, before the trail initially went cold.
Little Luka has undergone four surgeries following the sickening unprovoked attack.
Veteran detective Charlie Bezzina fears the gunman is playing a sick game of cat and mouse.
Detective Inspector Dalton said police now believe the man travelled to Sydney in the days after the attack and used “counter-surveillance” tactics to stay off the grid and avoid detection.
He then managed to escape on an international flight using his own passport on August 31, just 12 hours before investigators confirmed his true identity.
Detective Inspector Dalton said police had lost critical hours in their attempt to catch the man after receiving incorrect information about his identity.
“It soon became clear to us that this person was familiar with police methods and was probably engaged in counter-surveillance activities, which made the investigation quite complex,” he said on Monday.
He said the man had entered Australia legally on numerous occasions since 2019 and had travelled extensively along the country’s east coast. a migrant worker in Queensland, Victoria and New South Wales.
A warrant has since been issued for his arrest for alleged grievous bodily harm, a charge that carries a possible sentence of life in prison.
Although the fugitive’s age and visa status have been made public, detectives have not yet revealed his name or the destination of his flight.
Police are looking for this man in connection with the shocking August 27 attack in Brisbane
The incident occurred at Hanlon Family Park in Brisbane’s inner south-east.
Bezzina, who has led high-profile manhunts throughout his decorated career, said police may be trying to lull the man into a false sense of security by keeping such key details secret.
The retired detective said the man could have used a number of basic tactics to throw police off the scent long enough to escape the country, including ditching his mobile phone and using only cash.
He said the man may even have made phone calls to give police false leads as he tried to plan his escape and warned there would be serious concerns he could act unpredictably if cornered and even strike again.
“Countersurveillance can be as simple as, ‘I’ll call the police with a suspicious name, I’ll leave my phone somewhere because I know they can track me, and I’ll just get another prepaid phone somewhere else,'” he said.
“You know, ‘I’ll stay at a motel with a cheesy name, I’ll avoid using credit cards,’ that’s all. It doesn’t need to be too fancy.
‘The real concern is that he was considering employing these counter-surveillance tactics while on the run and what that says about his mental state.
There will be a genuine fear that he is one of those people who likes to play cat and mouse with detectives and who thinks he is clever and wants the police to come after him.
“I mean, why would anyone want to pour boiling water on a baby? And then seek to employ tactics to escape? You really have to look at the type of person we’re dealing with here, and it’s not a good one.”
He said that in the long term, any attempt to evade justice would be futile and that the man’s alleged crime was so heinous that no country in the world would tolerate the idea of harbouring the fugitive.
“There is sometimes concern that in some third world countries there is no particular ‘care factor’ with regard to crimes committed outside their borders,” he said.
‘But in this case, given the enormity of the heinous act this man is alleged to have perpetrated against a baby, that will strike a chord with any government – and any law enforcement agency – in the world.
“And nobody wants the bad publicity that would come from having this suspect, who is alleged to have committed this heinous crime, in their country and not cooperating with him.”
‘He should turn himself in now before the police corner him even further because this is not going to go away for him; whether it’s today, tomorrow or next week, there will come a time when they will catch him.’
Little Luka’s mother says she has been suffering from flashbacks of the ordeal.
The baby’s mother says she still feels guilty about the attack as her little boy continues to recover from the devastating experience.
“In the aftermath of the attack, fear will continue to surround me daily… Months of recovery will continue for my son,” she told her followers on Instagram on Monday.
‘Constant questions eat away at me: Why? Why him? Why not me? Why an innocent, defenseless baby?
‘This attack changed our lives and destroyed my mental health for years to come.
‘This part of motherhood – a happy, joyful time – has been snatched from under my feet.
‘I have lived in constant fear for two weeks that he might attack us again.
‘Although I feel some ‘comfort’ in knowing that he is no longer in the country, I feel enormous anger that they could not arrest him immediately.
“Now we will have to wait weeks, months or even years until justice is done for our baby.”
