Disturbing images of three Indigenous children tied with zip ties by a shopkeeper outside a house in Broome, Western Australia, have won sympathy from weary residents of a city ravaged by youth crime.
While the images have sparked national outrage, locals and shop owners in Broome say their town is in the grip of a violent crime wave.
The idyllic getaway, known for its white-sand tropical beaches, sunset camel rides and palm-fringed resorts, has been overrun by drugs, robberies and car fires as hundreds of children and teenagers roam the streets at night without supervision.
Locals spoke out after the confrontation video, filmed on Tuesday, spread like wildfire on social media, showing images of elementary school-age children with their hands clasped by black zip ties.
Burly local shopkeeper Mat Radelic, 45, was seen standing with crying children – a girl and two boys aged six, seven and eight – outside a house in Conkerberry Road, Cable Beach.
Radelic, who runs a local air conditioning company, stood by the clearly distraught and crying children until police officers arrived to arrest him.
Initially called to investigate the children’s alleged invasion, police later charged the 45-year-old with three counts of aggravated assault.
Radelic is believed to have captured the three children – and a fourth, a boy who ran away – swimming in a backyard pool on the 33C day and claimed in the footage that it was the sixth time this had happened.
He has been widely condemned by the public for overreacting and scaring children after the footage went viral.
But locals told Daily Mail Australia the unfortunate incident was just a symptom of a city pushed beyond its limits.
Images of three indigenous children tied with zip ties by a shopkeeper outside a house in Broome, WA, have gained sympathy from weary residents of a city plagued by youth crime.
Burly local shopkeeper Mat Radelic, 45, was seen standing next to the crying children – a girl and two boys aged six, seven and eight.
Locals and shop owners said Broome was in the grip of a youth crime wave (above, a 10-year-old boy stealing a car) with hundreds of youths roaming the streets at night.
Despite widespread condemnation of the man’s actions, Broome residents cited years of living with robberies, robberies, carjackings, arson attacks and rampaging teenage gangs.
A store owner, who wishes to remain anonymous, was robbed twice in a matter of months and her store was vandalized.
“It’s heartbreaking that a 12-year-old boy came along and did all this damage just for a can of Red Bull,” he said.
‘It’s a huge Kimberley problem. “We have this beautiful city and there are children who commit crimes, they run around like crazy without supervision and that is affecting our tourism.”
The shop owner said in previous years tourists from around Australia and overseas flocked to Broome to visit Cable Beach, go for a camel ride and stay at a resort.
“You can do that and not see any of the crime, but in the meantime, at 3 in the morning, a kid is trying to break in and rob our homes and businesses.”
He said he would sympathize with the tradie if it was proven that he was simply trying to stop the perpetrators who had committed a crime against him.
Mat Radelic has been charged with three counts of aggravated assault
Sniveling and frightened, the children, all under the age of 10, were allegedly tied up with zip ties after being caught swimming in the pool.
Two girls break into a medical center (above) in broad daylight, although most crimes occur at night, when hundreds of children roam the streets.
“You wouldn’t use cable ties, but if kids came into my house in the middle of the night, they’d have to deal with my dogs,” he said.
Lee Du Bray told Daily Mail Australia that when he lived in Broome and installed a $50,000 fiberglass pool in his garden, ‘thThe moment I left, the pool was invaded by the local children.
He added: “When I told them to leave, they came back later and emptied an entire four-gallon can of paint into the pool, ruining the entire filtration system and of course (I had to pay) to empty and clean it.” and fill the pool.
‘After I paid for it, weeks later they came back and threw fence posts straight through the fiberglass bottom of the pool.
“The pool had to be reinstalled and filled in: at least $100,000 went down the drain and the children were not even brought before a magistrate.”
“I feel sorry for that poor merchant.”
At the end of last year, ABC reported A Broome businessman who lived in Kimberley for more than two decades was selling up and leaving the town because of crime.
His small business was extensively vandalized after it was broken into in early November, forcing staff living at the back of the business to barricade themselves in a bedroom as the robbery progressed.
Residents fear that youth crime in Broome will ruin its tourism industry, which sees thousands of people flock to the town annually to enjoy its famous Cable Beach and camel rides (above).
Six-year-old Margaret (left) was tied up with her brother Stuart (right) for about an hour on a 33C day.
The businessman’s daughter said it was “a terrifying experience” as the intruders “were extremely violent and said horrible things.”
In early 2022, local police reported that youth crime had increased by 54 per cent in Kimberley, compared to the previous two years.
When police launched an operation to counter crime, they found hundreds of children wandering Broome Street every night.
Among the attackers was a 10-year-old boy accused by police of threatening staff with a knife at a business in Broome town centre.
Police charged a 13-year-old boy with four counts of aggravated burglary, six counts of burglary, two counts of attempted aggravated burglary and one count of motor vehicle theft.
Children as young as 14 have also been charged with aggravated armed robbery.
Residents fear there is no solution to the relentless wave of robberies and violence.
“It’s desperate,” said one local. “And that drives people to take desperate measures.”