Soccer star Latrell Mitchell has called on authorities to “throw the book” at a Western Australian trader after he allegedly tied up three Indigenous children with zip ties.
Disturbing images of the incident in Broome emerged on Thursday, winning sympathy from weary residents of a town ravaged by youth crime.
The video showed images of elementary school-aged children with their hands clasped in 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.
Latrell Mitchell has urged authorities to “throw the book” at a Broome shop
The soccer star compared Thursday’s disturbing scenes to those of the 20th century.
Mitchell has defended indigenous rights and used his profile to send his message.
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.
One of those dissenting voices is Mitchell, who called for the 45-year-old to be punished.
“Throw the book at him for doing this to our babies,” she posted in a since-deleted Instagram story.
He also shared footage of the Broome incident along with an infamous photo of indigenous people chained by British settlers at Wyndham Prison in the early 20th century.
The two photographs were titled “2024” and “1902.”
Rowena, mother of little Stuart, seven, and Margaret, six, said the man’s alleged actions were a “disgrace” and she desperately asked him if he had children of his own to consider how they would feel in a similar situation.
‘Being behind a fence and seeing my kids tied up like that was a ‘what can I do’ emotion. We just had to wait for the police,” Rowena 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.’
Western Australian trader saw two indigenous children tied up with cables
Rowena, who struggled to speak through tears, said she begged Radelic to free her children but was “afraid” of him because of his size.
The distraught mother said her son had suffered a nightmare and also had a “scratch on the right side of his hand.”
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 said to the families, you can wait until the police come, if you go to court, the Aboriginal man… they’re gone. “, 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.
In a video 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.
However, Rowena told the show that she was not actually owned by the man.
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.