We’re pleased to hear that police have said persons of interest have been identified in the hunt for the man who savagely attacked a five year old Belgian girl at a Turangi camping ground.

There’s more good news too  – the little girl was released from hospital today and her family have thanked people for their gifts and messages of support.

Hopefully they will be able to leave New Zealand soon, then will start the long and difficult process of putting their lives back together and helping their daughter and son recover.  We wish them all the best for the future.

Part of that healing process will be knowing that the man (or men) responsible will be found quickly and permanently prevented from ever inflicting this harm on another child.

The child was under the care and treatment of Hamilton based and Mangalore-born paediatric surgeon Askar Kukkady and a team of medical workers at Waikato District Health Board.

The Hindu newspaper says of him:

“Dr. Kukkady, who did his MBBS and MS degrees from Kasturba Medical College with a gold medal for general surgery, had his Magister Chirurgiae (M.Ch) degree from Kozhikode Medical College.

He worked in Australia for two years from 1992, and did a fellowship in Oxford. After getting a Fellowship from Edinburgh’s Royal College of Surgeons (FRCS), Dr. Kukkady went to Los Angeles, USA, to work in a children’s hospital. “I learned a lot there,” he said.

He migrated to New Zealand in 1997, working in different hospitals, and later settling in Hamilton. In 2002, he became a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (FRACS), a coveted position for a surgeon.

That, he said, was the toughest exam he took.”

Waikato DHB is indeed fortunate to have him on their team.