Clad only in his underwear, Grant chased and caught an alleged burglar – and made him dial 000

A man who chased and caught a teenager who had broken into his home forced the alleged burglar to call Triple Zero from his own phone, as the man had run out of his house in only his underwear.

Hawthorn man Grant Brown, 47, said he woke to find two people sneaking around his house about 3am, the light from one of their phones clearly visible.

Police allege the offenders – a 14-year-old and a 15-year-old – had earlier attempted to break into another home via a doggy door but were also chased off. The boys have each been charged with two counts of aggravated burglary.

“I just started chasing them, yelling at them, got them out of the house really quickly and chased them up the street until I grabbed one of them,” Brown told radio station 3AW on Monday.

“He was going wild when I first grabbed him, then I managed to calm him down, and he’s like, ‘Don’t hurt me. I’ll just call the cops. Don’t hurt me’. I’m like, ‘Righto, you call the cops’,” he said.

Having subdued one of the alleged offenders, Brown then forced the boy to dial Triple Zero to alert police to what had happened.

“Obviously, [I] didn’t have my phone with me,” he said. “I did the talking, he just did the dialling.”

Brown claimed the boy was armed with a knife which he “dropped while he was trying to leg it over a fence”, but police have not confirmed this.

“It all happened so quickly. You don’t have the time to think twice, or you think about it as you’ve got to protect your family.”

Footage circulating online shows the boy on the ground after police arrived.

“Take a deep breath, you’re going to make yourself sick if you don’t take a deep breath,” an officer can be heard saying.

The boy says he expects to be released from custody later that day and plans to stab the home owner.

“I’m coming straight back, I don’t give a f---,” he says.

Matty, a neighbour of Brown’s, told 3AW he heard Brown and the boy screaming out the front.

“I saw a man that was in his underwear, and it seemed like something I didn’t really want to get involved in at the time, and then the police arrived within 20 or 30 seconds and arrested the young bloke,” Matty said.

“He went through a whole range of emotions. At the start, I think he was quite scared and quite worried about what was going to happen. He was apologetic, he was quite polite to the police. He was, you know, going through a range of emotions.

“But then once the police located the knife and they confirmed that it was him, he just went off and turned as quick as anything.

“The lack of respect for police was clearly evident ... I wouldn’t think there’s a dad in the Boroondara area with a young family who doesn’t have some sort of [home invasion] plan.”

Police allege the incident at Brown’s house came an hour after another aggravated burglary in Hawthorn, allegedly by the same teenagers.

At 2.30am on Elphin Grove, a home owner was woken by his barking dog.

“Upon investigating, he located and confronted one of the boys who entered via an unlocked doggy door, pushing him out of his residence,” police said.

“A 15-year-old boy from the Boroondara area and a 14-year-old boy from the Whittlesea area were both charged with two counts of aggravated burglary – person present.

“Detectives are currently making an application to have the duo remanded.”

During a press conference on Monday afternoon, Victoria Police’s Chief Commissioner Mike Bush said home invasions were “abhorrent”. Bush’s press conference was held to announce a restructure in the force aimed at getting more police officers on the streets.

“I find it abhorrent that people, mainly young people – but not always – break into other people’s homes and are quite prepared to use violence,” Bush said.

“People will do what they do in the spur of the moment,” he said, referring to Brown’s actions. “My only advice to them is understand your own capability and look after yourself and your family.”

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