Jackie ‘O’ Henderson broke down in tears during a very emotional conversation with the devastated mother of the baby boy who was doused in scalding coffee.
Australians have been left devastated in recent days after nine-month-baby boy Luka suffered life-threatening burns after being targeted in a random hot coffee attack.
Luka and his mother had been having a picnic in Hanlon Park, in inner south east Brisbane, on August 27 when a stranger allegedly approached them and poured a thermos of scalding coffee over the infant before fleeing the country.
Luka suffered serious burns to his face, upper body and arms and has undergone five operations in Queensland Children’s Hospital including a synthetic skin graft.
Luka’s grief-stricken mother, who has not been identified publicly, featured on the Kyle and Jackie O Show on Friday morning to discuss the horrific attack.
Jackie, 49, was left choking back tears as she heard the mother’s moving words about her baby boy and described the attack as ‘evil’.
Breaking down in tears, Jackie told her: ‘You can’t imagine that kind of evil, and your poor bubba, it’s so evil.’
‘It makes you so angry because he’s just a little innocent boy who never did anything to anyone,’ she added as she became overwhelmed with emotion.
Jackie ‘O’ Henderson broke down in tears during a very emotional conversation with the devastated mother of the baby boy who was doused in scalding coffee
Australians have been left devastated after nine-month-baby boy Luka (pictured with his mother) suffered life-threatening burns after being targeted in a random hot coffee attack
Her co-host Kyle Sandilands also shared his devastation as he admitted he was left in floods of tears when he first heard of Luka’s brutal injuries on the news.
Kyle – who shares a baby boy Otto, two, with his wife Tegan – shared his upset as a recent first-time father himself as he sympathised with the devastated mother.
‘In all honesty, I was in tears in the lounge when I saw the story. Everyone understands it’s s**t, but when you’ve got your own child running around you while you’re in tears watching the news,’ he shared.
Kyle and Jackie vowed to give $10,000 to the GoFundMe set up to help raise funds for Luka’s hospital treatment, adding to the $160,000 that has already been donated.
With an original target of just $5,000, the mother gushed: ‘I cannot believe the generosity of the community and you know, it warms my heart and, you know, all the messages and the kindness and yeah, it makes the process a little bit easier.’
She then detailed what happened in the shocking attack, admitting it feels ‘unfair’ to think about the amount of pain her defenseless son was put through.
‘It feels very unfair coming home from the hospital and him being in bandages and going through all that. I’m constantly thinking about this day and how much pain he was in,’ she shared.
‘I’m a first-time mum and [it’s] taken that part away from me,’ she emotionally added.
Luka and his mother were in Hanlon Park, Brisbane, on August 27 when a stranger allegedly approached them and poured a thermos of scalding coffee over the infant before fleeing the country. Police have since released CCTV of the alleged suspect (pictured)
Luka’s grief-stricken mother, who has not been identified publicly, left Jackie and Kyle Sandilands (pictured) very emotional when she discussed the horrific attack live on air
She described the attack itself as ‘horrific’ and said people could hear her injured son ‘screaming’ from streets away as she recalled the traumatic incident.
‘Someone came up from behind me, like sort of from the side behind, and then my son was sitting right across from me. He came up and he threw this liquid on to him,’ she shared.
‘I knew it was an attack from how he threw it and he sort of looked and then ran away. My friend tried to chase him and my friend started screaming. I didn’t realise it was hot liquid until I got close to comfort him and his skin was peeling off.’
‘It was horrific and chaotic and people heard the screams from like streets away, from me and my son,’ she added.
The mother said Luka has already undergone five surgeries and might need a skin graft on his thigh to treat the ‘really deep burns’ from the scalding coffee attack.
She said Luka will have some permanent scarring from the horrific attack but said doctors will be able to do laser and skin needling to treat the burns.
‘Luckily – not luckily – but he is young and he won’t remember any of this. His skin, hopefully as he grows, the scars will be smaller and smaller,’ she added.
Queensland police have identified the foreign national who allegedly poured scalding coffee over the infant, but he has since fled overseas.
The 33-year-old man was in NSW on August 28 before he flew out of Sydney Airport on August 31 on his own passport – just 12 hours before police confirmed his identity.
The mother said Luka (pictured) has already undergone five surgeries and might need a skin graft on his thigh to treat the ‘really deep burns’ from the scalding coffee attack
A warrant has since been obtained for his arrest for grievous bodily harm, which carries a possible life sentence.
Detective Inspector Paul Dalton, who described the incident as a ‘savage attack’ without an apparent motive, said the accused was ‘aware of police methodologies’ and had been ‘conducting counter-surveillance activities’.
‘This is probably one of the most complex and sometimes frustrating investigations I’ve had to be involved in and lead,’ he said on Monday.
DI Dalton said the man was clearly ‘aware of what we (the police) do to find people’ and that cops had been stymied in their efforts when they had initially been given the wrong name.
‘It wasn’t until September 1 that we were able to put a name to the face in the CCTV,’ he said.
‘Even at that stage, we probably didn’t have enough evidence to obtain a warrant.
‘We’ve since been to NSW and Victoria to gather that information, and the warrant has been granted.’
DI Dalton said he knew which country the man had fled to, but could not share that information while the investigation was ongoing.
Kyle and Jackie vowed to give $10,000 to the GoFundMe set up to help raise funds for Luka’s hospital treatment, adding to the $160,000 that has already been donated
He said the man had been in and out of Australia since 2019 and had been ‘lawful’ each time.
‘There’s no adverse holdings that we can find on him in Australia,’ DI Dalton said.
He said the man was in the country on a visa and had addresses ‘across the eastern seaboard’ but not in Queensland.
The accused had been an ‘itinerant’ worker in Queensland, NSW and Victoria and police had interviewed some of his former colleagues.
The police officer said the attack was the ‘most cowardly’ he had witnessed in his career.
‘A young mother and a baby sitting on the ground and you are allegedly approaching them from behind,’ he said.
‘Can you think of anything more vulnerable than that? And to take advantage of that? You’re probably right, it’s one of the most disgusting ones I’ve come across.’
The senior cop vowed that he would not let up the investigation until the man is caught.
‘I’ve got 30 detectives working for me. They are devastated that they missed this person by 12 hours,’ he said. ‘I think only the family would be more upset about that.’
Queensland police have identified the foreign national (pictured) who allegedly poured scalding coffee over the infant, but he has since fled overseas
He encouraged anyone with any information to come forward, adding: ‘People may feel safe now that this person has fled Australia, to actually come forward to police.
‘I encourage them to do that. There’ll be no judgement on you whatsoever.’
The man was described as being a small build with tanned skin. He was wearing a black hat, glasses, a shirt and shorts at the time of the attack.
Police 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 initially went cold until he was found to have fled the country.
