Baby Attacker ID Revealed? (Kind Of)

So we know the Queensland Police know the identity of the man who poured scalding coffee on a baby boy in a Brisbane Park in late August this year, although they only described him as being a 33-year-old foreign national with tanned skin, who successfully fled the country before police could ID him. The offence of intentionally causing Grievous Bodily Harm, “Any person who, with intent—to maim, disfigure or disable, in any way unlawfully wounds, is guilty of a crime, and is liable to imprisonment for life.” This is not a slap-on-the-wrist sort of crime. However, for whatever reason, the police don’t want to tell the Australian public his identity, or even his nationality, or which country he fled to, or even that he’s Asian (which we discussed in a previous video). They’re holding back, I guess worried that members of the public might unfairly target innocent people, even though we know the suspect is not in Australia, and that one man’s deeds do not reflect his entire nation.

But now it’s being reported that a Chinese media outlet has identified the individual. According to the New Daily, the alleged perpetrator is a Chinese national who had been in Australia on a student visa, reporting he was born in Hangzhou. Despite this, the Queensland Police refuse to release the details of the individual as it may hinder their investigation. I’m not quite sure how naming an individual who’s photo is plastered all over the media is going to hinder their investigations, unless the police are worried there are other people with exactly the same name who might be unfairly harassed. But for example, NSW Police happily mention criminals’ names: “Have you seen wanted man, Mailau Tameifuna?”, or any other wanted person for that matter. Of course you show their picture, and if you know it, their name. It’s hard to understand why releasing the individual’s photo is okay, but not his name or nationality. I guess there’s politics at play.

Acting Assistant Police Commissioner Andrew Massingham was asked about the Chinese media reporting on the suspect’s name. He said, “Sometimes these posts can be a distraction to what we’re attempting to achieve, but that search will continue until we locate that person. Those things always need to remain confidential up until the time that we go public with the information. Our international search continues for the person that committed that horrendous crime… We are very much committed to finding the individual responsible. That child will have those injuries for life.”

Anyway, this guy is still on the run. Officially, we don’t know his name, we don’t know his nationality, we don’t know which country he fled to, we just know that he has tanned skin and was wearing a black hat. I wonder if he’s still wearing that black hat?

MUSIC
Allégro by Emmit Fenn