Disturbing footage of three Indigenous children bound with cable ties by a tradie outside a home in Broome, Western Australia, has won sympathy from weary locals in a town wracked by youth crime.
While the footage has sparked national outrage, locals and shop owners in Broome says their town is in the grip of a violent crime wave.
The idyllic getaway – known for its tropical white-sand beaches, sunset camel rides and palm-fringed resorts – has been overrun with drugs, robberies and car burnings as hundreds of children and teenagers roam the streets at night unsupervised.
Locals spoke out after the confronting video, filmed on Tuesday, spread like wildfire on social media showing images of primary school-age children with their hands locked together by black cable ties.
Burly local tradesman Mat Radelic, 45, was seen standing over the crying children – a girl and two boys aged six, seven and eight – outside a home on Conkerberry Road, Cable Beach.
Radelic, who runs a local air-conditioning company, stood beside the clearly distressed and whimpering children until police officers arrived to arrest him.
Initially called to investigate the children’s alleged trespassing, police later charged the 45-year-old man with three counts of aggravated assault.
It is believed Radelic caught the three children – and a fourth, a boy who got away – swimming in a backyard pool on the 33°C day and claimed in the footage it was the sixth time it had happened.
He has been widely condemned by the public for overreacting and frightening the children after the footage went viral.
But locals told Daily Mail Australia the regrettable incident was just a symptom of a town pushed beyond its limits.
Footage of three Indigenous children bound with cable ties by a tradie outside a home in Broome, WA, has won sympathy from weary locals in a town wracked by youth crime
Burly local tradesman Mat Radelic, 45, was seen standing over the crying children – a girl and two boys aged six, seven and eight
Locals and shop owners said Broome was in the grip of a youth crime wave (above, a 10-year-old stealing a car) with hundreds of youths roaming the streets at night
Despite the widespread condemnation of the man’s actions, Broome residents cited years of living with burglaries, break-ins, car thefts, arson attacks and rampaging teenage gangs.
A shop owner, who wished to remain anonymous, she had two break-ins in a matter of months and her shop smashed apart.
‘It’s heartbreaking that a 12-year-old came in and did all this damage just for a can of Red Bull,’ she said.
‘It’s a massive Kimberley problem. We have this beautiful town and there’s kids committing crime, running amok unsupervised and it’s affecting our tourism.’
The shop owner said in previous years tourists from around Australia and overseas would flock to Broome to visit Cable Beach, take a camel ride and stay in a resort.
‘You can do that and not see any of the crime going on, but, meanwhile, at 3am, a kid is trying to break in and steal from our houses and businesses.’
She said she sympathised with the tradie if it were to be proved he was just trying to detain perpetrators who had committed a crime against him.
Mat Radelic has been charged with three counts of aggravated assault
Whimpering and frightened, the children, all aged under 10, were allegedly bound with the cable ties after being caught swimming in the pool
Two young girls break into a medical centre (above) in broad daylight, although most crime happens at night when hundreds of kids roam the streets
‘You wouldn’t use cable ties, but if kids broke into my house in the middle of the night they would have to contend with my dogs,’ she said.
Lee Du Bray told Daily Mail Australia that when he lived in Broome and installed a $50,000 fibreglass pool in his yard, ‘the moment I went out, the pool was invaded by the local kids’.
He added: ‘When I told them to clear off, they came back later and emptied an entire four-gallon can of paint into the pool, ruining all the filtration system and, of course, [I had to pay to] empty, clean and refill the pool.
‘Having paid for that, they then weeks later returned and lobbed fence posts straight through the fibreglass bottom of the pool.
‘The pool had to be reinstalled and refilled – at least $100,000 down the drain and the kids were never even brought before a magistrate.
‘I feel sorry for that poor tradie.’
Late last year, the ABC reported a Broome businessman who lived in the Kimberley for more than two decades was selling up and leaving town because of the crime.
His small business was extensively vandalised after it was broken into in early November, forcing staff who lived at the rear of the business to barricade themselves in a bedroom as the burglary progressed.
Residents fear the youth crime at Broome will cruel their tourism industry which sees thousands annually flock to the town for its famous Cable Beach and camel rides (above)
Margaret, six, (left) was tied up with her brother Stuart (right) for about an hour on a 33C day
The businessman’s daughter said it was ‘a terrifying experience’ as the intruders were ‘were extremely violent and said some horrendous things’.
In early 2022, local police reported juvenile offending was up 54 per cent in the Kimberley, compared with the previous two years.
When police launched an operation to counter the crime, they found hundreds of children roamed Broome’s street nightly.
Among the offenders was a 10-year-old boy charged by police for threatening staff with a knife at a business in Broome’s town centre.
Police charged one 13-year-old boy with four counts of aggravated home burglary, six of stealing, two of attempted aggravated burglary and one of stealing a motor vehicle
Boys as young as 14 have also been charged with aggravated armed robbery.
Residents fear there is no solution to the unrelenting spate of theft and violence.
‘It’s desperate,’ said one local. ‘And the drives people to take desperate actions.’
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