1 of 2 | Tributes and flowers to independent MP Helen Haines are seen outside her election office in Wangaratta, Australia, on Tuesday. Haines was seriously injured after being struck by a vehicle outside her office on Monday. Police have charged a man with alleged intentional assault. Photo by James Ross/EPA
Oct. 20 (UPI) — A man was arrested and charged in the vehicular attack on Australian MP Helen Haines in Wangaratta on Tuesday, police said.
Brendan Nugent, 43, was arrested for dangerous driving causing serious injury, intentionally causing serious injury and causing damage to a public official of the Commonwealth.
Brendan Nugent, from Tarrawingee, Australia, about 13km from Wangaratta, was expected to remain in custody overnight and appear in Wangaratta Magistrates Court on Wednesday, Victoria Police said.
Haines, 65, an independent MP, lost a leg after being deliberately hit by the car. Witnesses told Australian broadcaster ABC News that Haines was standing behind her car outside her office when Brendan Nugent drove his car, a Toyota LandCruiser, at her, then reversed and hit her again.
Witnesses ran to help Haines. Ricky Jefferies, a local barber working nearby, pulled Brendan Nugent from his vehicle and subdued him, pulling a knife from his pocket and throwing him aside.
On Tuesday, doctors were working to save Haines’ other leg. She underwent surgery at Melbourne’s Alfred Hospital, where she was airlifted after Monday’s attack.
She was in critical but stable condition, The Guardian reported.
Police also confirmed they executed a search warrant on Brendan Nugent’s property the morning before the incident.
Brendan Nugent’s father, Rod Nugent, and Rod Nugent’s partner, Christine Cunningham, said Haines had been their friend for more than 20 years.
“What happened to him yesterday is devastating and unfathomable,” they said in a statement. “We would like to sincerely thank those members of the local community and the police who came to Helen’s aid yesterday. … We will assist Victoria Police in any way we can.
ABC described the community as “in shock.”
“I can’t believe this has happened in Wangaratta,” Mayor Irene Grant said. “It’s a safe place and it’s a positive place.”
Local resident Chris Wernet showed up outside Haines’ office with an Australian flag and a shirt saying: “Wangaratta is not us.”
Australian Federal Police Commissioner Krissy Barrett said in a statement the AFP was increasingly concerned about “increasing threats” against federal politicians and senior office holders and their offices and buildings, warning that reports of harassment, nuisance, offensive and threatening behavior had reached 1,067 between 2025 and 2026, up from 951 the previous year.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has been joined by current and former politicians in calling for lowering the political temperature in Australia.
Brendan Nugent, a former graduate student at the University of Melbourne, is a published expert on Grampians bitter pea, an endangered plant native to the Grampians mountain range in Victoria.
Recently, neighbors have complained about Brendan Nugent’s alleged erratic behavior, shouting coming from his property and that they are afraid of him.
ABC said Brendan Nugent underwent a mental health evaluation following his arrest Monday.
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