'Mate, he wasn’t going anywhere': Brickie recalls brave citizen's arrest on burglar
A Perth bricklayer says the alleged home intruder he dragged "around 100 metres" to make a citizen's arrest was "pretty buggered at the end of it".
James Burton, chased the man out of the house and down an alley before dragging him back and holding him until police arrived after the man was allegedly seen in Burton's house.
He was spotted in the house by Burton’s six-year-old stepdaughter.
Video captured Burton standing over the alleged intruder, dressed in his pyjamas, and casually smoking a cigarette.
The man on the ground is heard saying, “If you want to kick my head in, kick it in, kick it in, I’m serious, I know”.
Burton told Sunrise the alleged intruder “wasn’t going anywhere”.
“To be honest mate he wasn’t going anywhere - the reason why he was just laying there was because I subdued him before that,” he said.
“I dragged him 100m already so he was pretty buggered by that time.”
Six-year-old Kayleigh Campbell saw the man while she was playing inside the house and alerted her family.
“It was really, really cool that I actually saved my own family,” she said.
Burton said his step-daughter is a “legend”.
“Mate she is an absolute legend, so proud of her,” he said.
“She’s a legend, love her like my own, so proud of her.”
Burton said it’s not unusual to see him in his pyjamas.
“That’s right mate, every day it’s just a casual thing - on weekends you see me down the shops in my pyjamas and Ugg boots,” he said when asked if he is always a 'casual bloke'.
His partner Tamara Campbell said the alleged intruder was “at least two foot taller than him”.
“He didn’t think about it twice – it would have been a confronting situation to be in,” she said.
Burton said he wants to get the ‘stealing is wrong’ message across.
“The outreach has gone pretty far, I’m quite happy with that but I just want to get the message out there that these people can’t keep stealing, stealing is wrong,” he said.
