A trader who tied the hands of three Aboriginal children with cables and then filmed them has been found guilty of two counts of aggravated common assault.
Shocking images posted on Facebook showed a six-year-old girl and seven- and eight-year-old boys crying with their hands tied outside a house in the Cable Beach suburb of Broome, Western Australia, in March this year.
Matej Radelic, 46, head of air conditioning installations, had a single-day trial last month after pleading not guilty to three counts of aggravated common assault, but on Friday he was found guilty of two of those charges.
The children had been swimming in Radelic’s parents’ backyard pool without permission when he restrained them.
He was acquitted of the third charge of assault by Magistrate Deen Potter as that boy was restrained for a shorter period of time and was able to leave after freeing himself.
In footage of the incident obtained exclusively by Daily Mail Australia, Radelic can be heard complaining to the person recording it: ‘They’re on my property.
“It’s not the first time, six times (this has happened),” he said.
Mat Radelic, also known as Matej Radelich, has been found guilty of two of three counts of aggravated common assault.
Daily Mail Australia previously revealed he is the boss of a local air conditioning company who complained six times that his parents’ home had been “attacked” by children.
WA Regional Acting Deputy Commissioner Rod Wilde said a neighbor called police at 1.35pm on Tuesday after noticing children swimming in an “unoccupied” pool.
“About 10 minutes later, police received a call from a man who (allegedly) said he had restrained three children for causing damage in that backyard,” Commissioner Wilde said.
“Police responded and located two children at the time – one was gone – who had (allegedly) been tied up with wires at that location.”
Police will allege that a fourth child had also been in the pool, but managed to flee and alert relatives about what was happening.
A woman, related to the girl and seven-year-old boy, livestreamed the ordeal and said the tradie refused to let them go.
“When we tried to go in to pick them up, he pushed me and my mother out of the garden,” she told the newspaper. Western Australia newspaper earlier on Wednesday.
The six-year-old girl and seven-year-old boy were tied up with zip ties at the Broome property on Tuesday afternoon.
An earlier photo on Facebook showed a third boy tied up (pictured)
“When we got there, and when that man was pushing me out the gate… the little boy (eight years old) broke the cable ties with his hands and then just jumped over the fence and ran down the road. road.
“It was just annoying, we were so angry at (the tradie) that we were just shouting at him, telling him to let them go, but he just didn’t want to listen to us.”
The relative said Radelic kept saying he was “waiting for the police to arrive.”
She said one of the boys also claimed the man told them he was going to “hit them with a big stick.”
St John Ambulance paramedics assessed the children, who have since been reunited with their family.
After officers arrived at the property, Radelic was detained and interviewed.
His company’s website was taken offline after being bombarded with one-star reviews on Google in the wake of the incident, and the company’s phone is turned off.
Daily Mail Australia understands the house where the alleged incident occurred was recently put up for sale.
He was subsequently charged and granted bail to appear at Broome Magistrates’ Court on March 25.