New details and pics emerge after baby scalded by stranger in Brisbane park
New photos and details have emerged of the nine-month-old baby who was scalded by a stranger in a park in Brisbane.
Police have alleged that a man, between 30 and 40 years old, tipped hot coffee over a baby in Hanlon Park on Wednesday before fleeing the scene.
On Thursday morning, police released new images of a man they wish to speak to in relation to the alleged assault.
Police said the man was of an average build and with tanned skin and was wearing a black hat, glasses, a checkered button-up shirt and shorts at the time of the attack.
The plea from police comes after an image of the baby in hospital was released, with the nine-month-old completely wrapped in bandages.
After the incident, the baby was rushed to Queensland Children's Hospital and has since undergone surgery for burns to his face and chest, reportedly suffering serious burns to 60 per cent of his body including his face, neck, chest and arms.
A friend of the baby's mother, Zara Mazza, shared an update with The Project on Wednesday night, recalling how 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.
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, as Ms Mazza said, “She’s got a lot of anxiety right now. She’s not been able to sleep very well, if at all. So definitely struggling.”
“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.”
Image credits: 7News / Queensland Police