FRANKIE DeGROOT | News | CONTACT
A quick-thinking local Mum is being hailed a hero today after executing a citizen’s arrest of a man she found robbing her house.
Mother of 2 Linda Scarse returned from her job at Betoota General Insurance to find petty criminal Gerald Huxley, 33, in her kitchen, tipping the contents of the change jar into a pillow case.
“When I walked through the kitchen door I think he was as shocked as I was!” says Linda.
“We just looked at each other for a couple of seconds and then I grabbed the first weapon I could reach, which was a mop. I quickly washed the floor between me and him and he immediately knew he was trapped. He grabbed a knife out of the drawer but he couldn’t reach me over the wet floor so all he could do was stand there and watch while I called the police.”
Minutes later the police arrived and Huxley was taken into custody; eventually.
“The call came over the radio at about 17:35” recalled Sergeant Brent Tarlich. “A member of the public had an offender cornered in her kitchen with a freshly mopped floor. We were the closest unit so we made our way there under lights and siren”
“The floor could dry out in 10-15 minutes, allowing him to abscond so obviously time was a critical factor. On entering the residence we found the man trapped in the kitchen; however the linoleum was still slightly wet so we all sat around and waited for a few minutes for the homeowner to give us the all-clear to move in and make the arrest.”
When approached for comment, Huxley, who is well-known to Police, claimed he “dindoo nuffin”.
However when it was pointed out that he had been caught red-handed, he clarified his statement by agreeing that whilst he did break into the house, he didn’t put footprints on the clean kitchen floor.
