An Australian MP has had both legs amputated after she was rammed by a car in the street outside her office earlier this week.
Independent Helen Haines was critically injured as she retrieved an item from her car in the rural town of Wangaratta, Victoria, on Monday.
Another vehicle made a U-turn and struck Mrs Haines, before reversing and driving into her a second time, Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said on Tuesday.
Doctors amputated one of her legs on Monday and then her other leg on Wednesday, her husband Phil Haines said at the Melbourne hospital where she is being treated.
“The good news in all this is Helen is alive and she’s stable,” he said. “This is the most important thing for our family.”
Australian police have charged Brendan Nugent, 43, over the alleged attack on the MP, according to an official.
He was charged with causing harm to a Commonwealth public official, intentionally causing serious harm and dangerous driving, according to a statement from police on Tuesday.
Mr Nugent appeared briefly in Wangaratta Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday and was remanded in custody until his next hearing in February.
Federal and state authorities say that they are still trying to determine the motive for the attack. The investigation is being supported by the joint counterterrorism task force, including the Australian spy agency ASIO.
“We do believe this was a deliberate but isolated incident,” said Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Mike Bush at a press conference on Wednesday.
He said state authorities had “no intelligence holdings” against Mr Nugent.
“There was nothing known to us that would’ve arisen or piqued our interest or given any indication that he was an immediate threat,” Mr Bush said.
It was unclear whether Mr Nugent has legal representation. In a statement obtained by The Guardian, Mr Nugent’s father and his wife said that Mrs Haines had been a friend for decades and called the attack “unfathomable”.
The attack has caused shock in Australia, where physical violence against politicians is very rare, and sparked calls for a cooling of recent escalating rhetoric in the public sphere.
