Hasel Liu: Cruel twist after toddler found alive in QLD apartment next to father’s body
Thieves have stolen a dead man’s car the day after his body was found alongside his toddler daughter who had survived alone beside him for four days.
The body of Hasel Liu, 31, was discovered by police in his Coolangatta unit on the Gold Coast on Good Friday after a relative hadn’t heard from him since Tuesday.
His two-year-old daughter was found alive at the property and rushed to hospital suffering from dehydration but was otherwise unharmed.
Neighbours revealed they heard someone inside the empty home on Saturday night before seeing the thieves speed off in dead man’s black Mazda 3 about 8pm.
Queensland Police have now launched a hunt for the car but have so far been unable to locate it.
Thieves have stolen the car of single-father, Hasel Liu (pictured with daughter), the day after his body was found on Friday alongside his daughter who survived as long as four days alone
Neighbours said Mr Liu told them on Tuesday morning that he had been feeling unwell but they never saw him again.
While his death is not being treated as suspicious, the cause is still under investigation and a report is being prepared for the coroner.
Twin brother Lucas Marcas described Mr Lui as a ‘loving and caring’ man after arriving at the home from Sydney on Sunday.
‘He’s always going out there helping and does everything for other people (that) he won’t do for himself,’ he told 7News.
Mr Liu’s family moved to Australia from Iraq for a better life, but told the ABC last year that he and his daughter had been forced to live out of their car because of the rental crisis.
They were able to find permanent housing at the Coolangatta apartment after a charity stepped in to aid the struggling single-father.
He is understood to have been the sole carer of his daughter after splitting from the child’s mother, who has since reunited with the two-year-old.
Despite a number of patrols and inquiries, police have been unable to locate the car
A neighbour to Mr Liu said his daughter was ‘the most important thing in his world’ and despite not owning much, he was proud of his home.
‘They didn’t have much, but they had each other and the mother would come to visit,’ they told the Courier Mail.
‘He was very proud of the place here, he was always outside keeping the garden neat and tidy.’
The home was reportedly scattered with children’s toys and the TV was found still on when police arrived on Friday.
Bouquets of flowers were left outside of the apartment block alongside a sign reading ‘fly high Hasel, you will be missed’ in the days following Mr Liu’s death.
