Mum of baby burnt in hot coffee attack in Brisbane park speaks of ‘quick and chaotic’ moment

Warren Barnsley
7NEWS
Police are desperate to speak to the man who threw the coffee.

A baby badly burnt when he was doused in hot coffee at a Brisbane park had taken his first unassisted steps just hours before the attack, his mother has revealed.

The nine-month-old boy was “playing with a little toy car on the picnic rug” at Hanlon Park in Stones Corner on Tuesday afternoon when an unknown man poured the scalding Thermos of coffee on him and ran away.

The young Brisbane mum and her son had gone to the park for a midday picnic with a friend and her baby when the incident occurred.

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“It was all very quick and chaotic,” she said on Thursday.

“I didn’t really understand what was happening at the time, but I started screaming for help, yelling out that it was hot and my son was burnt.

“He started screaming and yelling. I poured our drink bottle of water on him ... ripping his clothes off.

“I just wanted to comfort my son in that moment.”

The mother said her friend ran after the man but he got away.

The mother of a baby boy burned by hot coffee poured on him by a stranger has spoken of her ordeal.
The mother of a baby boy burned by hot coffee poured on him by a stranger has spoken of her ordeal. Credit: 7NEWS
The baby is recovering hospital.
The baby is recovering hospital. Credit: 7NEWS

Other people in the park came to the boy’s aid, also pouring water on him, while an off-duty nurse who lived next to the park opened her home to the injured baby and mother to give him a cool shower until paramedics arrived.

He underwent surgery for burns to his face and chest and is recovering in Queensland Children’s Hospital in a stable condition.

The woman, who cannot be identified, revealed her son had begun walking again on Thursday having taken “his first unassisted steps the morning of this incident”.

“He seems like his happy self again, which is nice to see because the last few days have been really, really hard,” she said.

“He’s doing good. He’s actually playing.”

Images of a man wanted by police over an attack on a baby in Stones Corner, Brisbane.
Images of a man wanted by police over an attack on a baby in Stones Corner, Brisbane. Credit: Queensland Police Service

Police say he was wearing glasses, a shirt, shorts and a black hat and is believed to be aged between 30 and 40 with a proportionate build and tanned skin.

The young mum, who says the attacker “didn’t say a word” to her, said she “hopes he comes forward”.

“I just hope someone in the community knows who he is,” she said.

“Last night, I had a panic attack, thinking that he’s going to hurt someone else.

“If he did this to an innocent baby, he can do a lot worse.

“I don’t want any more harm to anyone.”

Originally published on 7NEWS

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