A Sri Lankan man has been taken in to custody by police after a siege which began in Westcourt, Australia this morning. He was allegedly armed with knives and had earlier assaulted an elderly man in the street before he was tasered and taken into custody just before 7pm.

Cairns police Acting Insp Chris Hodgman said the man was believed to have been visiting people in the area when the alleged assault on the 80-year-old took place and he then entered the Curtin St residence.

It looks like he doesn’t have a home at this stage, but was associated with some units in the area,’’ Acting Insp Hodgman said.

It is believed he was visiting some people in Aumuller St, he said.

He said police had been alerted to the earlier job and turned up. They cordoned off the area and attempted to negotiate with him, The Cairns Post reported.

Insp Hodgman said police brought in a specialist officer who was able to speak to the man in several Sri Lankan dialects, but it was eventually a tactical deployment’’ which allowed them to subdue him.

There was no confrontation,’’ he said.

There were no injuries to anyone so it was a successful resolution.’’

Significant damage was caused to the property according to residents Jay and Kyllie Hoile, including damage to wedding photos from the wall.

Mr Hoile said the house had been trashed with letter keys off the lap top.

He said the couple returned to find the fishbowl in the television and their pet fish dead.

Ms Hoile added: I was saying to the police, we should probably make a list of the things that aren’t broken and go from there, but all those things can be replaced, we’re just happy to have each other.

I can breath again. We’re just very relieved,’’ he said.