Helen Haines’s condition has improved from critical to serious but stable, five days after the independent MP was allegedly struck repeatedly by a car outside her office in Wangaratta, north-east Victoria.
The 65-year-old remains at The Alfred hospital in Melbourne after surgeons amputated both her legs following the alleged attack on Monday afternoon.
Haines was retrieving items from the boot of her car on Murphy Street when witnesses saw a white Toyota LandCruiser make a sharp U-turn and ram her against her vehicle. The driver allegedly reversed before striking her again.
Police allege the incident was targeted. Brendan Nugent, 43, has been charged with dangerous driving causing injury, intentionally causing injury and a Commonwealth offence of causing harm to a Commonwealth public official.
Nugent appeared in Wangaratta Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday and remains in custody. He has since also been charged with cultivating and possessing cannabis.
Footage from a previous confrontation between Nugent and police has also emerged. Recorded in 2022, it shows him speaking to two officers while holding a wooden garden stake.
“Now you’re gonna have to shoot me,” Nugent says in the footage. “You’re gonna have to kill me.”
As he becomes increasingly agitated, officers spray him with capsicum spray before using a Taser. Nugent, who was 39 at the time, was taken to hospital for assessment, but no charges were laid over the incident.
Haines’s husband, Phil Haines, said on Wednesday that his wife faced a long and difficult recovery but described her as a fighter.
“Her heart is huge – she is a very compassionate, caring, loving person, incredibly supportive of all around her,” he said.
He added: “And her mind – she has the sharpest intellect. She has always had the most intense desire to learn, to read, to synthesise and to understand what’s going on.”
“We are grateful and thankful that, at this stage, both her heart and her mind are in good shape.”
