The mother of two indigenous children who were allegedly tied with cables by a burly trader fought back tears as she told how she pleaded to be allowed to give her children water.
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 Broome, Western Australia, on Tuesday afternoon.
Daily Mail Australia previously revealed that air conditioning installation boss Mat Radelic, 45, was the tradesman at the center of the viral video, filmed in the suburb of Cable Beach.
He was charged with three counts of aggravated assault by Western Australian police on Wednesday. He will face court on March 25.
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.
Rowena (pictured above), mother of children Stuart, seven, and Margaret, six (pictured below), said the man’s alleged actions were a “disgrace” and that, in desperation, she asked if he had children of his own to consider how they might feel in a similar situation
‘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, who struggled to speak through tears, said she begged Radelic to free her children but was “afraid” of him because of his size.
A Current Affair host Alison Langdon was so upset by the story that she cried herself.
“I’m crying right now thinking about it, Rowena,” Langdon said.
She later added: “Rowena, I can’t imagine what I would have done in a similar situation if it had been my children.”
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.
A Current Affair presenter Alison Langdon was so upset by the story that she cried herself (pictured)
“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.
“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.
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 who later managed to escape (pictured).
“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 children 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.