OMM Newsroom
A 43-year-old man has been charged after Australian MP Helen Haines was struck by a car in Victoria state on Monday, according to BBC World.
The man is due to appear in court on Wednesday, facing charges of dangerous driving causing serious injury, intentionally causing serious injury and the federal offence of causing harm to a public official.
Local media named the alleged attacker as environmental activist Brendan Nugent. His father, Rod Nugent, and his father’s partner, Christine Cunningham, said they had been friends with Haines for “more than 20 years”. They described the incident as a “shocking and horrific crime” and thanked residents and officers who helped her.
Haines, 65, the independent member for Indi, is in a critical but stable condition after surgery at a Melbourne hospital. She was airlifted there after bystanders came to her aid when the suspect allegedly hit her twice outside her office in Wangaratta.
Australia’s home affairs minister told national broadcaster ABC that the driver reportedly made a U-turn to get into position, struck Haines, then reversed and hit her again. She was pinned between two cars and reportedly lost one leg. ABC said doctors were trying to save her other leg.
Local barber Ricky Jefferies said he pulled the suspect from his car and took a knife from him. “I just wasn’t comfortable with his movements so I took it out of his pocket and threw it away,” he told reporters.
Jefferies said he did not consider himself a hero, but had “an opportunity to intervene in a safe-ish way”. He added that others who helped “didn’t even check for danger”, saying the car was still running and they sat in front of it as it rolled.
Victoria Police said a highway patrol unit was nearby and arrived at the scene within eight seconds of receiving the call. Police also said they had searched a property in Tarawingee, nearly 60km (40 miles) from Wangaratta.
“At this stage it appears this is an isolated incident, and there are currently no other known threats connected to this matter,” police said, adding that officers would maintain a presence in Wangaratta.
Haines won the seat of Indi as an independent in 2019 and has since become a prominent crossbench member, building relationships across Australia’s increasingly divided political spectrum.
Her office is on Wangaratta’s main street, which reopened to traffic on Tuesday. Bouquets were left on the pavement outside, while residents gathered at a vigil at a cathedral, where they queued to light candles. A card outside the office read: “May you recover quickly and continue to be a light in this world.”
