coffee attack
“International hunt for man who threw hot coffee on baby”
On August 31st a family was having a picnic at a park in Brisbane. A man approached them and poured his flask of coffee on the baby. The nine-month-old boy was left with “serious burns” on his face and limbs.
pour a drink
limb = arm or leg
How can the police find the man?
From 35 seconds
The police found videos of the man running from the scene but couldn’t identify him. 6 days later he flew out of the country from Sydney airport.
12 hours after he left, the police identified him.
What do you think the police did next?
Now the police know the 33-year-old man’s name and country he fled to but the police aren’t releasing the information publicly because they said it will jeopardise their investigation
jeopardise “jeh-par-daiz” (verb) = put it in danger
Why do you think they didn’t release the man’s name or nationality?
People online are guessing…
he may have political connections
the police want to avoid racist attacks on other people from that country
The police said: “The suspect was aware of "police methods" and had been "conducting counter-surveillance activities" to evade them.”
police methods = steps police use to catch a criminal
conduct (formal) = do
counter-surveillance activities = steps to stop people following or tracking you
evade (verb)= escape
What do you think he did to evade the police?
The police said…
he zig zagged across several neighbourhoods in Brisbane immediately after the attack. He walked, took trains, used several ride share services,
He changed his clothes
He drove to Sydney and flew out of the country (using his own passport) from there
The parents of the baby have also kept their identity secret.
Some people think the man is a spy.
Do you think he’s a spy? Why would he attack a baby?
The last theory is the man is from China and the Aussie government doesn’t want to create a bad relationship with them at the moment.
Do you think this could be true?
One month after the attack a small news agency in China released more information about the man
The newspaper said he’s from China and had a student visa in Australia.
One of his friends in China said his visa wasn’t renewed so he wanted “revenge on white people”
English media still hasn’t released his name yet
If this attack happened in Japan, would Japanese police do something differently?