Witness who filmed wanted man heard screams during Brisbane baby attack

Ruwan Kalu was sitting at home when he heard screams across the road. Seconds later, a man dashed past the front door.

His CCTV system captured the now-infamous footage of a man running down Junction Street in Stones Corner moments after hot coffee had been splashed on a nine-month-old baby boy in a nearby park.

The random assault happened at Hanlon Park about midday on August 27.

Ruwan Kalu of Stones Corner on the street the wanted man was filmed after a baby was scalded with coffee in Hanlon Park.Credit: William Davis

Police believe the suspect, a foreign national, ran about half a kilometre to the Apostolic Church Of Queensland in Annerley, where media reports suggested he changed his clothes and caught a rideshare car to the CBD.

He fled the country four days later via Sydney – just hours before police had confirmed his identity – and investigators were still working to track him down.

“All of a sudden there was a screaming noise and the man was running,” Kalu told this masthead from his home this week.

“No one was chasing him … he wasn’t even running fast.

“I don’t know why it happened. It’s really weird.”

Police were investigating if the man had been “sleeping rough” in Stones Corner at the time of the alleged attack.

More than a dozen shop owners, residents and walkers approached by Brisbane Times said they had not seen him before.

The Apostolic Church Of Queensland, where the alleged attacker is believed to have run.Credit: William Davis

Kalu said the randomness of the attack left his family shaken.

“My daughter normally goes for a bicycle ride in the park every evening, and now I say ‘go before it gets dark’,” he said.

“My wife was really worried … Even I was scared after giving our footage to police. Is this a drug ring or criminal thing?

“That night bikies were going around and I was actually very worried. We didn’t know what was going on.”

He revealed officers spent hours in the following days at his home trawling through CCTV footage.

“The cops didn’t want to say anything … They were coming here for hours and sat going through my footage during dinner time,” Kalu said.

This week police confirmed the accused attacker had fled Australia, saying he used “counter-surveillance” techniques to avoid detection.

The mother of the nine-month-old has told this masthead the attack was unprovoked. She requested she and her son not be identified.

Hanlon Park in Stones Corner where the alleged attack occurred. Credit: William Davis

“It was out of nowhere … I don’t even know who he is or why this happened,” the woman said.

“I was literally only at the park for 10 minutes before this man came up behind us and poured hot coffee from a Thermos and ran away. I barely saw him.

“We were all traumatised … luckily [my son] is young and he probably won’t remember any of this, but we will, and this is something we’re going to have to carry forever.”

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