Australian MP loses both legs after alleged car attack

Australian lawmaker Helen Haines has lost both legs after a driver struck her outside her electoral office in what police allege was a deliberate attack, her husband said Wednesday. She is alive and in stable condition.

“The good news in all this is Helen is alive, and she’s stable,” Phil Haines told reporters in Melbourne, where the independent MP is being treated. “That is the most important thing for our family.”

Haines was struck Monday afternoon in Wangaratta, about 240km (150 miles) northeast of Melbourne. Her husband said doctors amputated her left leg after the attack and tried unsuccessfully to save her right leg, according to Al Jazeera. He said her recovery would be “long and difficult,” but that “her heart and her mind are in good shape.”

Brendan Nugent, 43, appeared in court Wednesday on charges of dangerous driving causing serious injury, intentionally causing serious injury and causing harm to a Commonwealth public official, the BBC reported. Al Jazeera described the latter two charges as intentionally causing injury and causing harm to a public official. Court filings also show charges of cultivating and possessing cannabis. Nugent did not apply for bail and is due back in court in February, according to the BBC.

Police arrested Nugent shortly after he allegedly drove his Toyota LandCruiser into Haines outside her office, the BBC reported. Bystanders pulled him from the vehicle and detained him. Jacob Evans, who was among those who came to Haines’s aid, used a tourniquet from a medical kit in his car to help stem the bleeding from one of her legs, the BBC reported.

Police have not established a motive. Victoria Police Commissioner Mike Bush said determining why the alleged attack happened was central to the investigation, which Victoria Police is conducting with support from the Australian Federal Police. Police said they had no advance intelligence of a threat to Haines. They are examining whether drug use or medication played a part and whether Nugent had a personal connection to her, according to the BBC. Police said further charges, including attempted murder, may be laid.

Nugent’s lawyer told the court he had “mental health concerns,” without giving details, the BBC reported. The court also heard he has idiopathic transverse myelitis, a rare neurological condition caused by inflammation of the spinal cord. Nugent’s family said they had long been friends with Haines and called the apparent attack “devastating and unfathomable,” according to the BBC.

Haines has represented the Victorian seat of Indi since 2019. Before entering parliament, she worked in nursing, midwifery and academia, Al Jazeera reported.

The attack has prompted debate over security for Australian lawmakers. Federal police said providing individual protection to all 226 federal MPs would require “incredible” staffing levels; instead, they assess protection needs according to each person’s role and threat environment, the BBC reported. At the news conference, Governor-General Sam Mostyn called on Australians to “learn or re-learn to exercise our muscle of decency.”