A 45-year-old man has been charged with assault after he allegedly physically restrained three children under 10 with cable ties in a Broome driveway.
Police say they were called to the Western Australian home at 2.15pm on Tuesday following a reported trespass incident, and found a six-year-old girl and a seven-year-old boy tied up.
They later found a third child, an eight-year-old boy, who they said had been tied up but had fled before police arrived.
Paramedics were called to assess the two children, who were then reunited with their family.
Part of the alleged incident was live-streamed to Facebook and family members could be heard saying that they were just “little kids”.
A woman, who is related to two of the children, said the man refused to let them go.
“When we tried to walk in there to get them he pushed me and my mum out of the yard,” she told the West Australian.
“When we pulled up there, and when that man was pushing me out of the gate, the little boy snapped the cable ties with his hands and then he just jumped over the fence and ran down the road.
“It was just upsetting, we were so angry with (the man) just shouting at him, telling him to let them go but he just didn’t want to listen to us.”
The woman said the man kept saying he was “waiting for police” to arrive, and said one of the children also claimed he told them he was going to “hit them with a big stick”.
It is alleged that the tradesman had arrived at the home for a repair job and found the children swimming in the pool, at which point he tied them up them.
Police took the man in for questioning and later said he had been charged with three counts of aggravated assault.
They alleged the “force used to restrain the children was not proportionate in the circumstances” and urged locals to stay calm amid fears of rising tensions.
“Community members are encouraged to allow the court process to run its course,” police said in a statement.
The man was granted bail and is due to appear in court at a later date.
