Australia reacts to ‘confronting’ images of cable-tied children
There has been a heated national response to disturbing footage of three Indigenous children bound with cable ties by a tradie outside a home in Western Australia.
There has been a heated national response to disturbing footage of three Aboriginal children bound with cable ties outside a home in Broome, Western Australia.
High-profile Indigenous Australians led the outcry after tradie Mat Radelic, 45, was charged with three counts of aggravated assault over the alleged incident.
The air-conditioning tradie, who reportedly found the children swimming in his client’s backyard pool, insisted his actions weren’t racially motivated.
While there is no suggestion the incident was racially motivated, for many, the confronting images of the children tied up evoked explosive responses and broke hearts.
Among those to react publicly was proud Indigenous Rabbitohs star Latrell Mitchell, who fired up a string of passionate posts on Instagram on Monday night and posted an image of a broken heart.
Indigenous Australian actor, television presenter, and WA resident Ernie Dingo also spoke out against the alleged incident.
“They are just babies,” he posted to Facebook with images of the children.
Outspoken senator Lidia Thorpe also blasted the alleged incident.
“To the politicians who whip up fear and hatred of our babies for political points – this is what your words lead to,” she said.
CEO and founder of the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre, Kon Karapanagiotidis, wrote: “Aboriginal children are forever denied the chance to just be kids too.”
WA Premier Roger Cook joined senior police on Wednesday in calling for calm in Broome following the incident he described as “distressing” and “disturbing.”
“I think anyone who saw that video would have found it confronting and would have found it disturbing and I understand that it raises very strong emotions in everyone in the community,” he said.
“But I urge everyone to let the police get on with their job, let the justice process take place
Tradie defends alleged actions
Mr Radelic told 9News the alleged incident did not come from a “place of hate”.
“I didn’t have time to think,” he said. “It didn’t come from a place of hate or nothing.”
He told the broadcaster he had lost thousands of dollars to youth crime in Broome, and was considering leaving town. News.com.au does not suggest any of the children are youth offenders.
News.com.au understands the property where the children were bound is rental property owned by a relative of Mr Radelic and is on the market.
Mixed reaction to cable-tie incident
Others reacted to the incident by sympathising with the accused.
“If you came home and found kids in your house, what would you do?” one irate reader wrote to news.com.au.
“I think this is a situation of a person that’s had enough of what’s going on over there.”
An anonymous Broome shop owner told the Daily Mail the popular tropical tourist town had become overrun by crime.
“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.”
Meanwhile, the mother of the young children who were cable-tied in the driveway has called the incident a “disgrace” in an emotional interview.
The upset mum appeared on A Current Affair, where she tearfully told journalist Ally Langdon that she begged the man to let her scared children go.
She explained that when arrived at the scene to see her three children aged, 6, 7, 8, tied up she pleaded with the man to release them.
“Can you please let my children go,” she recalled begging.
Langdon looked visibly horrified as the mum recounted what happened, even tearing up at one point.
The mum revealed that her young son was crying for water at one point and there was nothing she could do.
Rowena said she was “afraid” during the situation because a fully-grown man was standing between her and her kids.
“I was sad, upset, and very emotional. I was afraid of him as well; he was very big, a big male,” she told Langdon.
Rowena said she asked the man if he had any children, and when he replied that he did, she tried to reason with him again.
“We said you wouldn’t like if anyone does that to your children,” she pointed out.
Langdon asked Rowena if there was any “part” of her that understood the man’s alleged actions, but Rowena said she couldn’t begin to comprehend why he did it.
“They are small children, and they went for a swim,” she said.
Langdon pointed out that while the children shouldn’t have snuck into someone’s pool, they weren’t teenagers.
Rowena said that if this was the “other way round” and an Aboriginal man was holding three white children hostage by tying them up with cable ties, the response would be very different.
“If he goes to court, the Aboriginal man, I’m talking about. He would have been gone, they wouldn’t even let him out of prison,” she argued.
The worried mum repeated that she still couldn’t understand why someone would do that to three young children.
“How can you treat little children like that?” She asked.
Police labelled the incident as “confronting” and confirmed an investigation was underway.
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“The man, from Broome, was taken into custody, interviewed over the matter and charged,” Western Australia Police said.
“It is alleged the force used to restrain the children was not proportionate in the circumstances.”
The accused was granted bail and is expected to appear in court at a later date.
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