Tradie Matej Radelich who tied up three young Aboriginal children in Broome, Washington in shocking livestream video is found guilty

A trader who tied the hands of three young Aboriginal children with cables and then filmed them has been found guilty of two counts of aggravated assault.

Shocking footage posted to Facebook in March this year showed a girl, six, and boys, seven and eight, in tears, with their hands tied together outside a house in the Broome suburb of Cable Beach, Western Australia.

Matej Radelic, 46, an air conditioning plant boss, was given a one-day trial last month after pleading not guilty to three charges of aggravated assault, but was found guilty of two of those charges on Friday.

The children had been swimming in Radelic’s parents’ pool without permission when he restrained them.

Mat Radelic, also called Matej Radelich, was found guilty of two of the three counts of aggravated assault

He was acquitted of the third charge by Magistrate Deen Potter because the child was held for a shorter period and was allowed to leave after breaking free.

Magistrate Deen Potter did not find Radelic’s use of force ‘reasonably necessary’ given the circumstances and described the 46-year-old tradie as a ‘towering figure’. ABC reported.

“While on the phone he described the children as scared and crying,” Magistrate Potter said, adding that their distress should have been an indication that Rdelic’s violence was excessive.

‘Therefore, at some point it must have become abundantly clear that the continued use of force must have become unreasonable.

“It is an inescapable fact that the children were deeply and clearly distressed by their captivity,” he concluded.

However, the magistrate acknowledged previous burglaries of Radelic’s property, and that the tradie responded to what he saw as trespass and criminal damage, leading to the ‘citizen’s arrest’.

Radelic was fined $2,000, suspended for 12 months and convicted.

Both the prosecution and defense agreed on a statement of material facts during the short trial last month.

Both parties reportedly acknowledged that Radelic had tied the children’s hands and that the children were guilty of trespassing and criminal damage to the tradie’s property, regardless of their age.

The trial instead focused on the need to restrain the children with zip ties.

Radelic’s lawyer Seamus Rafferty argued that the 46-year-old had been a “victim of a crime” after several previous burglaries, police said. BBC. There was no suggestion that they were done by the same children.

He said the tradie had taken action to make a legal citizen’s arrest, although he admitted the zip ties “didn’t look nice.”

In sentencing, the court heard the incident had had a significant impact on Radelic’s family and business.

Police prosecutor Michael Gregg has reportedly argued that while Radelic may have made a lawful citizen’s arrest, it was unreasonable to restrain the children with zip ties, especially since they had complied with instructions.

Sargeant Gregg reportedly feared the incident was having an inhumane impact on the children.

In footage of the incident obtained exclusively by Daily Mail Australia, Radelic can be heard complaining to the person recording him: “They are on my property.

Daily Mail Australia previously revealed he is a local air conditioning company boss who complained his parents’ home was ‘targeted’ by children six times

The six-year-old girl and seven-year-old boy were bound with cable ties at the Broome property on Tuesday afternoon

‘It’s not the first time, six times [this has happened]’ he claimed.

WA Regional Acting Assistant Commissioner Rod Wilde said a neighbor called police at 1.35pm on Tuesday after seeing the children swimming in an ‘unoccupied’ pool.

‘About ten minutes later the police received a call from a male subject [allegedly] said he restrained three children because they caused damage in that backyard,” Commissioner Wilde said.

‘The police located two children at that time – one had left – who had done so [allegedly] are tied up with cables on that site.’

Police will allege a fourth boy had also been in the pool but managed to flee and alerted family members to what was happening.

A woman, who is related to the little girl and seven-year-old boy, streamed the shocking ordeal live and said the tradie refused to let them go.

“When we tried to walk in to get them, he pushed me and my mother out of the yard,” she told the newspaper Western Australian newspaper earlier on Wednesday.

An earlier photo on Facebook showed a third child tied up (pictured)

“When we stopped there, and when that guy pushed me out of the fence… the little (eight-year-old) boy broke the zip ties with his hands and then jumped over the fence and ran down. away.

“It was just disturbing, we were so angry because (the tradie) just yelled at him and told him to let them go, but he just wouldn’t listen to us.”

The family member said Radelic kept saying he was “waiting for the police to come.”

She said one of the children also claimed the man told them he would “hit them with a big stick.”

Paramedics from St John Ambulance assessed the children, who have now been reunited with their families.

After officers arrived at the property, Radelic was taken into custody and interviewed.

His company’s website was taken offline after it was bombarded with one-star Google reviews following the incident, and the business phone has been disabled.

Daily Mail Australia understands the house where the alleged incident occurred recently went up for sale.