Two Indigenous children who were tied with zip ties to the point their skin broke were happy, fun-loving children, but have now been left “traumatised”.
Disturbing footage uploaded to Facebook on Tuesday showed Margaret, six, and Stuart, seven, huddled with another boy, eight, outside a property on Cable Beach in Broome, Western Australia, on a scorching hot day.
The normally cheerful group, who love to play together outdoors, had their wrists tied and cried for their mother, while the burly air-conditioning installation manager, Mataj Radelic, 45, walked on the cement to make sure they were safe. The children did not leave before the police. arrive.
They jumped over the fence of the empty property to swim in the pool before Radelic, who is not the owner of the house, caught them and made the arrest of the strange citizens.
Roberta Cox, a close relative of the children, became emotional as she told Daily Mail Australia how she heard people screaming and ran across the street to see what was happening.
Seeing the children tied up and moaning on the cement reminded him of the horrible images of Aboriginal people being forced to wear metal shackles around their necks, around before 1950.
Margaret, six, and Stuart, seven, are seen tied up with another family member on Tuesday.
Margaret’s cable ties were so tight they drew blood (pictured) and left marks on her wrists.
“I went there because I heard screaming and I came back and grabbed my phone and tried to call the police, but it was hard because I was having a panic attack,” she said.
“I called them and ran back and filmed it… They’re pretty traumatized.”
Daily Mail Australia attempted to approach Radelic for comment on Thursday, but his wife Vesna called the police claiming their family felt “threatened”.
An officer demanded the media leave the scene, threatening to arrest anyone who did not comply with the transfer notice.
“You’ll be locked up,” he said.
When it was pointed out that Radelic was accused of tying up children with zip ties and was facing three counts of aggravated assault, the officer said, “You don’t know the circumstances surrounding that.”
‘This has nothing to do with you.’
Seven-year-old Stuart (pictured) has had a nightmare since and has a scratch on his hand after the incident.
Six-year-old Margaret (pictured) was tied up with her brother for about an hour on a 33C day.
The zip ties were so tight they left marks on the children’s wrists (pictured)
Pictured: A photo the children’s relative showed to Daily Mail Australia, explaining the scene, reminded him of how Aboriginal people used to be treated.
Earlier Thursday, Radelic told television reporters that his actions were not racially motivated and that he regrets the scene that unfolded.
But Roberta’s family believes the situation is reminiscent of the way indigenous people were treated between approximately 1890 and 1950.
He held up a black and white photograph of Aboriginal men sitting on the ground with chains around their necks and hands, while a white man hovered over them and smiled.
“It looks like this,” he said, pointing to the photo.
“It’s like what they did to us.”
Cox acknowledged the relatively high crime rates in Broome, but said Margaret and Stuart were normally well behaved.
“They don’t steal or anything like that, they just wanted to swim in the pool,” he said.
Vesna Radelic can be seen arriving home Thursday afternoon, holding a McDonalds bag.
Vesna Radelic called the police when Daily Mail Australia tried to approach her husband for comment.
On Wednesday, the children’s mother, Rowena, who was at the scene at the time, called the situation “disgraceful.”
‘Being behind a fence and seeing my kids tied up like that was a ‘what can I do’ emotion. she told A Current Affair.
‘I didn’t feel anything for my children crying there. My son was crying for water and I couldn’t even get him water.’
Rowena recalled begging Radelic to free her children, but she was “afraid” of him because of his size.
He also questioned possible double standards in the legal system.
‘If it were the other way around, if an Aboriginal man held three white children, like that, and told the families, “You can wait until the police come”, if he goes to court, the Aboriginal man… I would have gone,” he said.
‘They didn’t even let him out of prison. He would have remained in prison. They would not release him on bail. Maybe they would have accused him of kidnapping.
Rowena (pictured) said Radelic’s actions were a ‘disgrace’
Pictured: The driveway where the children were filmed on Tuesday. The pool is covered to the right.
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.
Radelic was subsequently charged and granted bail to appear at Broome Magistrates’ Court on March 25.