A worker who tied up three indigenous children who were trespassing on his family’s vacant property with cables made a legal citizen’s arrest, a detective told a court.
Matej Radelic appeared in Broome Magistrates’ Court on Thursday to face three charges of aggravated common assault for tying up the boys, aged six, seven and eight, with cable ties in March after catching them swimming in the property’s pool.
Detective Senior Sergeant Jarrad Collins gave evidence recounting his arrest of Radelic after police were called to the Cable Beach property in Broome, in Western Australia’s far north.
During questioning, Sgt. Collins confirmed that he wrote a report the night of the incident describing Radelic’s act as a “lawful citizen’s arrest.”
Perth defence barrister Seamus Rafferty SC asked the detective if he still believed Radelic’s arrest was lawful.
“Yes,” Sergeant Collins replied.
Reflecting on this response in his closing remarks, Mr. Raffery stated: “God knows how he (Sgt. Collins) accused him (Radelic) after that,” according to a report by The Australian.
The court also saw body camera footage from the day of the incident, in which Radelic spoke at length to police about his frustrations at seeing his and his parents’ property repeatedly vandalized.
Matej Radelic faces three counts of aggravated common assault for tying up three Indigenous children, aged six, seven and eight, with cable ties in March after catching them swimming in a pool on their parents’ property.
He told officers there had been four previous incidents at the properties where bricks and paving stones from the pool area were used to smash sliding doors and windows.
Radelic said the repairs had cost him more than $10,000 and had hampered his efforts to sell the house.
“Who the hell is going to fix this damage now?” he said.
‘I can’t even sell the place, I was supposed to sell it today.
‘The three previous times they entered my house and destroyed my entire house.
“How many times does this place have to be trashed? Every time it happens, I pay for it.
“Are they going to pay for it? Are they going to use their Centrelink payments to pay for it?”
‘Fix the windows and two days later they are broken again.
‘Everything is closed, everything is protected, but they jump the fence all the time.
“There are no consequences for anyone but me.”
An officer responds: “I can understand your frustration.”
Radelic said the situation was “getting out of control.”
“It just keeps escalating, escalating, escalating, until someone gets hurt or ends up in jail,” he said.
He told officers he “held down” the three children.
“I let them sit and then I didn’t touch them,” he explained in the images.
Radelic said an older ringleader escaped when he caught the three boys in the pool, but then returned to his property to threaten him.
Images of the three restrained children sparked outrage, with Western Australian Premier Roger Cook calling the footage “confronting”, “disturbing” and “distressing”.
“The guy was still outside, he had a huge knife like that. He hit my car twice,” Radelic said.
He said the children’s mother also arrived at his property.
“What I told her was to wait outside the fence, I called the police, to calm down girl,” he told officers.
‘They’re fine just sitting in the shed.
“All these other people showed up and started threatening me. I told them to stay away from the property and that was it.”
Radelic also said he would not have restrained the children if he had known police would arrive quickly.
“I tie them up with cable ties and wait for them,” he told officers that day.
‘I mean, it took you a while to get here, but if you came in 10 minutes it wouldn’t be a problem.
“If I let them go, there will be no consequences. I want to report the mother and the entire family.”
The court also heard that police arrived at the home 37 minutes after Radelic called, despite the property being a five-minute drive from Broome police station.
Mr Rafferty submitted documents showing that police had upgraded the incident to a “priority 3” matter, meaning other incidents deemed more serious took priority.
He said Radelic fulfilled his duties as required by a citizen’s arrest by reporting the matter to police as soon as possible.
Mr Rafferty asked Sgt Collins if it was “simply not enough” that police had not arrived sooner.
“I wish we had arrived earlier,” he admitted.
When officers questioned Radelic about zip-tying the children in the images, he said: “If I have to go to jail, I will, but this is ridiculous.”
“I am the owner of the property and I have no rights,” he explained.
“Who is going to protect me? I pay taxes, I do everything I have to do, I work 12 hours a day, six days a week and my house is full of garbage all the time.”
Police prosecutor Micheal Gregg argued that Radelic had other options available to him.
He noted that the children were already obedient before being tied up.
“The circumstances simply did not justify the use of force,” he told the court.
Judge Deen Potter has reserved his decision until October.
Footage of the incident, which shows two of the children crying, sparked widespread outrage and threatened to tear the Broome community apart.
Western Australia Premier Roger Cook called the images “confronting”, “disturbing” and “distressing”.
Western Australia’s Children and Young People Commissioner Jacqueline McGowan-Jones issued a statement saying she was “horrified” by the incident.
Additional police were deployed to Broome following the incident due to rising tensions in the community.