Footage has captured the moment a jujitsu black belt holder pulled off a citizen’s arrest of a man accused of stealing a tiny home on the Sunshine Coast.
Queensland Police allege two tiny homes were taken from a property in Cooran on Sunday morning.
About 50 kilometres south in Bli Bli that same day, Eduardo Giraldes was riding his electric skateboard when he noticed a tiny home on a trailer parked on a street – later coming across a social media post appealing for help to locate the allegedly stolen homes, one of which resembled the one he’d seen.
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Mr Giraldes called his friend, Diego Sanches Nogueira, and they headed to the scene to investigate.
The man approached the driver, who tried to start the car and drive away, Mr Giraldes told the ABC – so he and Mr Sanches Nogueira used their car to block the man from leaving.
In a video of their confrontation with the man, he tells the pair: “I didn’t steal it … stop being heroes.”
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Unconvinced by his claims he had bought the tiny home, Mr Giraldes called the police.
“We’re just holding the guy saying, ‘Man, you’re not going to move’,” he said.
“We are more than 100 kilograms, both of us.
“I trained (in) jujitsu for over 13 years already. I knew if something happened, I knew how to hold him.
“I think he knew that he didn’t have any chance and he didn’t try.”
Police arrived, they questioned the man before arresting him.
They later identified the tiny home as one of the two allegedly stolen from the Cooran property. The second tiny home was found at a Tewantin property near Noosa following further investigations.
The 40-year-old man was charged with one count of stealing the tiny home and one count of stealing the trailer. He will appear in Maroochydore Magistrates Court in May.
Anyone with information regarding the alleged theft of the second tiny home is urged to come forward by police.
