Horror new details have emerged after a man allegedly poured hot coffee over a baby boy in a Brisbane park.
Police say a man fled the scene after allegedly pouring the coffee over the baby, who had been on a picnic with his mother in Hanlon Park at noon on Tuesday.
The nine-month-old has since undergone surgery for burns to his face and chest at Queensland Children’s Hospital and has reportedly suffered serious burns to 60 per cent of his body including his face, neck, chest and arms.
A friend of the mother, Zara Mazza, became emotional as she told The Project she was sitting down with her own son and looked up to see a man standing above her friend’s nine-month-old baby.
“This man was standing above him, behind him, and poured a Thermos of hot coffee over him. He just started screaming,” she told the program on Wednesday night.
Ms Mazza said she tried to chase the man but he was “very fast”, and she tripped while attempting to keep up.
“Essentially all I could hear was his mum screaming that it’s hot. ‘It’s hot, it’s hot coffee’, so I ran back and as I ran back picked up my water bottle and dumped it over him,” she said.
I removed him from his mum and we laid him down on the picnic rug and we peeled his clothes away, which revealed the peeling of his skin, his skin had started to blister.”
Bystanders reportedly came over with filled water bottles to pour over the baby, before a nurse in training offered up a shower at her nearby apartment so water could constantly be running on him.
“Very grateful. The ambulance came really quickly, I think it was within five minutes. Police, too,” Ms Mazza said.
“It was chaotic. It happened really quickly.”
The baby’s mother is reportedly “really traumatised” after the incident, which has left her son with burns to his face, neck, chest and arms.
“She’s got a lot of anxiety right now. She’s not been able to sleep very well, if at all. So definitely struggling,” Ms Mazza said.
“Bub is in a stable condition … they say that he’ll need regular dressing changes under anaesthetic over the next weeks. They don’t know how long, but, yeah. It’s gonna take a while.”
The Project Host Waleed Aly also became emotional as he listened to Ms Mazza talk about the horrific incient.
“This is really, really hard. I don’t… I don’t think any of us know what to say to you because we have never really seen anything quite like this,” Aly said.
“So we know it’s really hard for you to speak to us in this circumstance.
“We really appreciate that and thank you…all the very best to you and your friend and, of course, the baby.”
Police say this man may be able to help with their inquiries. Picture: Queensland Police Service
The mother and baby were having a picnic at the park in South Brisbane. Picture: Google
CCTV footage shows a man who police say may be able to help with their inquiries running out of the park and along a residential footpath.
He is wearing a black and blue checked long-sleeve shirt, khaki-coloured shorts, black sneakers, a black hat and black-framed reading glasses.
Police describe him as 30 to 40 years old, of a proportionate build, with tanned skin.
The little boy was taken to hospital in a stable condition.
The family told Nine they were traumatised and wanted the attacker caught, while a Go Fund Me page has been launched to help cover medical costs for the baby.
“If you can help in any way by either donating or sharing. Would love to raise some money towards any medical or household costs to help ease the pressure off of my friend and her family while they take the time to be home and help their beautiful boy heal,” the fundraiser read.
Police want anyone who knows the man, or with information about the incident, to come forward.
