West Australian man Matej Radelic has been found guilty of two counts of aggravated common assault after cable-tying the hands of three young children in Broome in March. The incident gained national attention after a video showing two children cable-tied on Radelic's property was live streamed on social media. On Friday, Magistrate Deen Potter found Radelic's use of force was unreasonable in relation to two of the children, while acquitting him of the third charge.
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00:00Tay Radulich faced a single day trial in the Broome Magistrates Court last month after
00:07pleading not guilty to three counts of aggravated common assault in April.
00:11The 46-year-old used cable ties to restrain the children aged six and seven after he found
00:17them swimming at his pool at a property in Cable Beach on the 5th of March.
00:22Video of the incident showing children with their hands bound together made international
00:26headlines.
00:27The September trial largely focused on whether Mr Radulich's decision to restrain the children
00:32with cable ties was reasonable and necessary.
00:36Yesterday Magistrate Dean Potter handed down his reserved decision of the matter and found
00:41Mr Radulich guilty of two of the three charges committed against two of the children.
00:46He was acquitted of the third charge as one of the children was restrained for a shorter
00:50amount of time and able to leave the scene once they broke free.
00:54A key point in the Magistrate's decision was whether Mr Radulich's use of force was
00:58reasonably necessary in the circumstances.
01:01He deemed it was not, given the length of time, 37 minutes, two of the children were
01:06restrained for, before police arrived.
01:10Magistrate Potter did acknowledge Mr Radulich had experienced previous break-ins on his
01:14property prior to March, not suggesting it was related to the same children and said
01:19the 46-year-old's actions were not born out of vigilantism.
01:24He said the images circulating of the children bound together had been seen in historical
01:28context which had a destabilising effect in the community.
01:33Magistrate Potter handed Mr Radulich a $2,000 fine which was suspended for a 12-month period
01:39and a spent conviction.