Matej Radelic: Tradesman accused of cable tying three Indigenous kids says one child returned with knife

A Broome man accused of restraining three Indigenous children with cable ties outside his property told police one of the children managed to escape and returned brandishing a knife. Broome Magistrate’s Court was told Matej Radelic, 46, told attending police he was the victim of multiple burglaries in the months leading up to the incident. Mr Radelic fronted court on Thursday for a trial hearing after pleading not guilty to three counts of aggravated assault in April. The tradesman was newly represented by one of the State’s top defence barristers Seamus Rafferty. Mr Rafferty argued his client acted in a lawful manner when conducting a citizen’s arrest after finding four young children swimming in the pool of his Cable Beach property. Mr Radelic was heard in a triple-0 call explaining to the operator how he used cable ties from his car after he found the young children aged around “five or six-years-old” after a neighbour alerted him. It took Broome Police 33 minutes to arrive at the scene, where they found a six-year-old girl and a seven-year-old boy sitting cable-tied in the driveway of the property. Body-cam footage played in the courtroom showed Mr Radelic explaining to police that four children were found on the property but that the eldest child had escaped. Another boy — who had also been cable-tied — managed to escape and raise the alarm with nearby adults, who then went to the property and began live-streaming footage of the remaining two children to Facebook. Mr Radelic told officers that before they arrived, the eldest boy who ran off had returned with a knife and threatened him, while bystanders verbally abused him and threw stones at his car. “They’re just jumping the fence all the time,” he can be heard saying in the body-cam footage. “I want to press charges on the whole family, this is ridiculous. “Who’s going to protect me? I pay taxes and go to work six days a week.” Mr Rafferty told the court that between December 12 and December 18, 2023, Mr Radelic had spent more than $10,000 repairing his property after four burglaries resulted in his windows being smashed and paving around the pool being damaged. Colourbond fencing had been placed over his pool to prevent further damage, which had allegedly been removed when the children were discovered. Detective Sergeant Jarrad Collins, who attended the incident, took the stand on Thursday. He told the court that when he arrived on the scene, police cut the cable ties off the children and called St John WA to give them a medical assessment. They were reunited with family members soon after. He initially wrote in the incident report that Mr Radelic conducted a lawful citizen’s arrest, but after consulting more senior officers, changed the report to deprivation of liberty. Mr Rafferty’s questioning of Det.-Sgt Collins focused on whether police would use similar methods to restrain children as young as six if they were caught committing a crime, to which he admitted after “a process”. Det.-Sgt Collins also admitted the incident being logged as a priority three was a factor in the delay in the time it took for officers to arrive at the scene. “Designation as a priority three is not the soundest decision,” Mr Rafferty said. Magistrate Deen Potter adjourned the matter to October 4 to consider his decision and extended Mr Radelic’s bail until then.