Australian police are working with their international counterparts to track down a man suspected of pouring boiling coffee on a baby in Brisbane.
The incident took place last month and has left the nine-month-old boy with “serious burns” to his face and limbs.
An arrest warrant was issued by Queensland Police for a 33-year-old man who is believed to have fled the country six days after the incident and just hours after police managed to identify him.
The man is wanted over acts intending to cause grievous bodily harm, a charge which carries a possible life sentence.
The incident happened on August 31, with witnesses claiming a strange man approached the family at a suburban park and emptied his flask on the child before escaping on foot.
The boy was treated at the scene by an off-duty nurse who rushed the baby to her nearby apartment to run the injuries under cold water.
Despite this, the child suffered significant injuries which have already required multiple surgeries and which his family said are leaving him with a years-long journey to recovery.
The motive behind the attack is unclear, with Det Insp Paul Dalton telling media that the case was one of the “most complex and frustrating” that he had ever led.
He confirmed that police knew which country the suspect fled to, insisting that this and the suspect’s name were not being released so as to not jeopardise the investigation.
The man is an “itinerant” worker who has travelled to Australia repeatedly since 2019 and has addresses in both New South Wales and Victoria.
Dept Insp Dalton also said the suspect was aware of “police methodologies” and had been “conducting counter-surveillance activities” to evade them.
The baby’s parents on Monday told media they were “devastated” to learn the suspect had left the country but also relieved he was gone.
His mother told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation: “It sounds like they were very, very close in catching him, and this obviously means that we’re going to have to wait who knows how long to get justice for our son.
The boy is in “good spirits”, his father added, but may yet need further skin graft surgeries.
An online fundraising page for the baby boy has so far raised more than A$150,000 (£76,000).