Hunt widens for man who allegedly threw scalding coffee on baby

A man wanted for allegedly throwing scalding coffee on a baby in an unprovoked attack at a park in the northern Australian state of Queensland is now the subject of an international manhunt.

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A man wanted for allegedly throwing scalding coffee on a baby in an unprovoked attack at a park in the northern Australian state of Queensland is now the subject of an international manhunt.

Queensland Police Detective Inspector Paul Dalton said Monday that officers were working with international partners to find the man, identified as a 33-year-old foreign national, who is known to have fled the country four days after the alleged attack.

A nine-month-old boy, known only as Luka, suffered serious burns on his face, arms and legs when the man allegedly threw the piping hot drink on him as he sat with his mother on the grass at Hanlon Park in Brisbane on August 27.

Closed circuit television video released by police shows the man running from the scene, wearing a blue plaid shirt, black hat and glasses.

Dalton said early investigations were delayed by false information about the man’s name and the suspect’s own surveillance of the police operation.

“It soon became apparent to us that this person was aware of police methodologies, was certainly conducting counter surveillance activities, which made the investigation quite complex,” Dalton told reporters.