An Australian man who used cable ties to detain children caught swimming in his backyard pool has been found guilty of two counts of aggravated common assault.Images of Matej Radelic, 46, restraining three distressed children – aged six, seven and eight – on his Broome property in March made global headlines.He was charged with three counts of aggravated assault, with prosecutors arguing his actions were “dehumanising” and unreasonable in the circumstances.However his lawyers argued Mr Radelic had made a “lawful” citizen’s arrest.
The Broome Magistrates Court heard both parties and agreed the children’s behaviour had constituted “trespass and criminal damage”, but all were under the age of criminal responsibility, which is 10 in Western Australia.According to the ABC, Magistrate Deen Potter found Mr Radelic guilty of two of the three charges – he was acquitted of the third charge, as the oldest child was restrained for a shorter amount of time and left the scene after breaking free.Mr Radelic was handed a fine of A$2,000 ($1,368; £1,041), suspended for 12 months.Mr Radelic’s call to emergency services was played, in which he can be heard telling the operator the tied-up children were uninjured, but “scared and crying”.”Yeah no wonder,” she replied.When police arrived at his home – in the remote town 2000km (1243 miles) north-east of Perth – the tradesman was captured on police bodycam expressing his frustration.”I mean, there’s no consequences for anything,” he said.”What would you do?… If you think I need to go to jail, I will.”His lawyer Seamus Rafferty said Mr Radelic was “a victim of crime”, as his home had been broken into four times in the months before the incident, though he did not suggest these children were involved.Mr Rafferty conceded cable tying the children’s wrists was “not a good look” but was ultimately legal.”This case is not about optics, not about emotion, race or vigilantism,” he said.He pointed to the responding police officer’s notes, which had described the incident as a lawful citizen’s arrest.However, police prosecutor Mícheál Gregg argued the response was disproportionate as the children had complied when asked to get out of the pool and sit down.”The circumstances simply weren’t there to justify any use of force,” he said.