A man was caught on CCTV running away after a baby was doused with hot coffee in a Brisbane park. Video / Queensland Police Service
The mother of a baby boy hospitalised after hot coffee was poured on him by a stranger has described the experience as “torture”.
The 9-month-old had surgery after suffering burns to his face and chest following what police described as a “cowardly” and random attack in a Brisbane park.
Police on Wednesday appealed for help to identify the attacker, releasing footage of a man running away from the park after the “terrifying” incident.
The baby was with family and friends at Hanlon Park, Stones Corner, at midday on Tuesday when a man approached, police said.
The mother said “some guy” came up behind them and poured a coffee all over her son’s head.
“My friend and I were sitting in Hanlon Park ... with our two babies when a strange man came up behind her 9-month-old son and poured a thermos of boiling hot coffee over his little body and then fled!” she wrote.
“This was a callous, random attack on my friend’s baby. He does not deserve this pain and suffering.”
The boy remains in a stable condition in a Brisbane hospital.
“It’s torture. I am supposed to be his protector and I couldn’t protect him,” the mother told Nine Network on Wednesday night.
“I’m just having flashbacks all the time about what happened.”
The boy's parents have been left devastated by the attack. (9News)
The mother said a nurse who lived nearby heard the baby’s screams and ran over to help, taking them to her apartment to shower the boy before an ambulance arrived soon afterwards.
She said her friend ran after the alleged attacker but he got away.
Police described it as a deliberate and unprovoked attack.
“It is callous and cowardly,” Detective Inspector Paul Dalton told reporters on Wednesday.
“Going to a park on a beautiful winter’s day in Brisbane, enjoying your time ... to be attacked like this and approached like this, it must be terrifying.