The teenage son of a burly tradie who shackled Aboriginal children together with cable ties because he caught them trespassing has defended his dad and lashed out at efforts to buy the kids a pool as ‘rewarding trespassing’.
Matej Radelic, 45, was charged with three counts of aggravated assault on Tuesday after a disturbing video was uploaded to Facebook showing three kids crying for their mum outside a property at Cable Beach in Broome, Western Australia.
The children had jumped the fence of the vacant property to swim in the pool before Radelic, whose parents own the home, caught them and performed the bizarre citizens’ arrest.
In the video, which sparked national uproar, the kids’ mother Rowena could be heard crying while asking Radelic to release Margaret, six, Stuart, seven, and another boy, eight, as he stood over them and refused to let them go until police arrived.
Now, Radelic’s tradie son Luka has hit back with a social media video showing the same property with broken windows, along with the message: ‘This is NOT an issue of race. It’s an issue of crime.’
Luka – who works in air conditioning installation, like his father – also lashed out at community fundraising efforts to give the children their own pool.
Pictured: Luka Radelic, the son of a tradie who bound Aboriginal kids together with cable ties
Pictured: Matej Radelic with two kids, Margaret and Stuart, tied together in his parents’ driveway
He posted a screenshot of a community campaign’s purchase of a backyard pool set up for the kids up with the caption: ‘Rewarding trespassing?’
Luka also shared pictures of various broken windows at the family’s home and wrote: ‘Six times. Thousands of dollars in damage. We didn’t need this.’
It appeared as though a brick had been thrown through the glass sliding door. ‘Why does anyone feel the need to do this?’ he asked.
He then suggested local vandals would use ‘bricks pulled from paving, helmets, metal bottles, anything they could find’ to destroy property.
‘This is NOT an issue of race. It’s an issue of crime. Thanks media,’ he wrote.
His father said earlier this week that the situation was not racially motivated and said he regrets his actions.
Luka’s video appeared to have been compiled with older footage.
The vacant property appeared to be intact when Daily Mail Australia visited on Friday.
Pictured: A screenshot of a social media post by Luka Radelic, who suggested a community fundraiser for the kids was ‘rewarding trespassing
Pictured: Matej Radelic standing in front of broken glass at the same property
Luka Radelic defended his dad’s actions on social media, saying the incident was about crime, rather than race
Members of the local indigenous community saw Radelic senior’s actions as an act of racism.
The tradie denied that, telling media the incident was not racially motivated and that he regretted how the situation had unfolded.
An Indigenous group on Facebook was outraged by Luka’s video, noting the children had not been accused of damaging property.
‘Luka Radelic decided to post his stories and gave us a “special mention”,’ the Facebook post said.
‘The man … that kidnapped the children and type them with cable ties, [his son] believes that this is acceptable.’
‘Holding children against their will and tying them up with cable ties is not OK.’
Whimpering and frightened, the children were bound with the cable ties after being caught swimming in the pool
Everyone in Broome who Daily Mail Australia spoke to acknowledged the high crime rate, but the children’s relative Roberta Cox said Margaret and Stuart don’t partake in acts of vandalism.
‘They don’t steal or anything, they just wanted to swim in the pool,’ she said.
Ms Cox was on the scene at the time of the incident and called the police.
She said the kids are ‘traumatised’ and that Radelic could have dealt with the situation very differently.
‘The cable ties were too tight and I could see that – one was bleeding and they were crying,’ she said.
Radelic was charged and has been granted bail to appear in Broome Magistrates Court on March 25.
