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Helen Haines Loses Both Legs After Attack, Police Arrests Suspect

By Drooid · Oct 21, 2026, 4:06 PM UTC · How we work

Summary

Helen Haines Rammed

Independent MP Helen Haines was rammed by a vehicle outside her Wangaratta office.
Doctors amputated both legs, leaving her in critical but stable condition.
Police arrested 43-year-old Brendan Nugent, who was restrained by a passerby and found with a knife.
Nugent appeared in Wangaratta Magistrates’ Court charged with driving, intentional injury, harming an official and cannabis offenses.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese condemned the attack, saying violence has no place in democracy.

Summary

Sam Mostyn Condemns

Governor-General Sam Mostyn condemned the attack and urged Australians to “pause and choose to be better.”
Surgeons amputated Helen Haines’s left leg and later her right leg on the same Monday at Alfred Hospital.
Doctors first tried to save the right leg, then concluded amputation was required.
Hospital officials said Haines’s heart and brain functions remain normal, and her family expressed confidence in her resilience.

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Helen Haines Rammed

Independent MP Helen Haines was rammed by a vehicle outside her Wangaratta office.
Doctors amputated both legs, leaving her in critical but stable condition.
Police arrested 43-year-old Brendan Nugent, who was restrained by a passerby and found with a knife.
Nugent appeared in Wangaratta Magistrates’ Court charged with driving, intentional injury, harming an official and cannabis offenses.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese condemned the attack, saying violence has no place in democracy.

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