Relative that witnessed Broome kids being restrained in cable ties reveals horrifying details

A relative of two children who were cable tied in Broome on Tuesday has revealed their wrists were allegedly bound so tight the youngsters were bleeding when they were found.

Mat Radelic, 45, was arrested in Cable Beach on Tuesday and charged with three counts of aggravated assault, accused of restraining three children, aged six, seven and eight, after he allegedly caught them swimming in a vacant house.

Roberta Cox, a relative of the children, claimed the cable ties were fastened so tightly that they broke the children’s skin and left deep marks prompting her to ask police to call an ambulance.

“I said ‘you guys need to ring the ambulance as well’ because one of the kids was bleeding on the wrists,” she said.

Ms Cox, who lives nearby, said she called the police after the man refused to untie the children or give them water.

“I heard women going off so I eventually went across the road and I saw a bloke in his work uniform and the two kids sitting up against the fence,” she said.

“I could see that they were very distraught and the cuffs on them were absolutely too tight.

“He was asking if the kids were going to pay for this unit and I said, ‘at the moment, you need to get them in the shade and you need to give them a drink of water’.

“He was refusing to let the mother walk in.”

They were also forced to sit on the pavement in the sun for over an hour, according to Ms Cox, with temperatures reaching a high of 33C in Broome.

Citing her background in law enforcement and healthcare, Ms Cox urged Radelic to release the children but he refused to until police arrived.

“They were hot and apparently they were there for over an hour,” she said.

“I told him that I’m an ex-cop and a health worker as well and that the cuffs were too tight for those kids but he wouldn’t release them until the coppers came.”

“So I came back home because he wasn’t complying with me and called the police straight away. When I called them I said ‘why aren’t you guys here you have two kids in cuffs.’”

When police arrived on scene they immediately cut the cable ties from the children, Ms Cox said.

“Police didn’t arrest him straight away, they spoke to him around the corner first,” she said.

The property, which is listed for sale, has also been the target of multiple break-ins recently, according to Ms Cox.

The incident — which was streamed on social media — has received wide-spread media coverage since it occurred yesterday, with WA Premier Roger Cook describing the footage as “distressing” and “disturbing”.