Hanlon Park, Brisbane coffee attack: Top cop reveals how coward may have been able to escape the country

A former detective has revealed that the coward who allegedly threw scalding hot coffee over a nine-month-old baby may have been able to flee the country because authorities might not have known his name.

Queensland Police have been working with partner agencies around the world amid fears the man responsible for the sickening attack has fled interstate or even left Australia altogether. 

Little Luka Burgic had been on a picnic with his mother, Erna, in Hanlon Park, in inner south east Brisbane, when the man approached them at around midday on August 27 and poured a thermos of scalding coffee over the infant before fleeing.

The baby suffered life-threatening burns to his face, upper body and arms and as a result of the unprovoked attack has undergone four operations in Queensland Children’s Hospital.

There are serious concerns the unknown assailant is trying to evade justice by hiding out abroad. 

Former Queensland police superintendent Jim Keogh was asked on Sunrise how the alleged offender could have possibly fled the country when his face was everywhere in the hours after the heinous crime. 

‘As far as getting on a plane goes, if you are going to  go to an airport alert or passport alert, you’ve got have to have a name. You can’t just go with an image. 

‘They can certainly get through and certainly leave the country.’

Former Queensland police superintendent Jim Keogh (pictured) was asked on Sunrise how the alleged offender could have possibly fled the country when his face was everywhere in the hours after the heinous crime

However, Mr Keogh said he was surprised someone hadn’t identified the offender through the images.    

‘I think you will find police have a pretty good idea of who the offender might be and certainly if they are going internationally, there must be information or intelligence to indicate that the offender has fled Australia,’ he added.

Queensland Police are due to give an update on Monday morning.

Mr Keogh warned that if the alleged assailant had fled overseas, it ‘won’t be as easy’ to track him down because the images wouldn’t be circulated.

‘Though Interpol and the policing authorities over there will covertly and stealthily look for the offender, you won’t have the support that we have here in the community here in Australia,’ Mr Keogh added. 

Former investigator Charlie Bezzina previously told Daily Mail Australia that the the man’s act was so heinous it was only a matter of time before he was apprehended.

‘If he’s fled interstate, he won’t last long,’ the decorated detective, who led multiple manhunts throughout his career, said.  

Luka Burgic’s mother, Erna, says she has been suffering flashbacks of the horrendous ordeal

‘Interstate relationships between police agencies are very strong. Within Australia, there won’t be a problem (finding him).

‘If he’s gone overseas, there is sometimes a concern that in some third-world countries they don’t particularly have a “care factor” about crimes committed outside their borders.

‘But in this case, given the enormity of the hideous act that this man has allegedly perpetrated on a young baby, that will pull at the heartstrings of any government – and any police agency – in the world. 

‘And no one will want the bad publicity that would come with them having this suspect, who has allegedly committed this heinous crime, in their country and that they’re not co-operating.’

Mr Bezzina urged anyone with any information to come forward immediately. 

The man is described as being in his 30s or 40s and of a proportionate build with tanned skin.

He was wearing a black hat, glasses, a shirt and shorts at the time of the attack. 

Police have tracked his movements after the attack to the southern Brisbane suburb of Tarragindi, where he changed his clothes outside a church. 

He then caught a rideshare car into central Brisbane, before moving onto Caxton Street where the trail went cold.