MP Helen Haines’ accused attacker lived in squalor shocking new pictures can reveal.
The images, taken by theHerald Sun, show the isolated rural property in Tarrawingee had become overgrown and was strewn with rubbish, inside and out.
One picture shows dozens of empty alcohol bottles while another shows long, unkempt grass outside the front of the home.
The property is reportedly owned by Brendan Nugent’s father Rod, a former vet.
Nugent has been charged over a shocking attack on Indi MP Helen Haines who was left fighting for life after she was rammed with a Toyota LandCruiser on Monday.
Her first words after being critically injured in the alleged targeted attack outside her
electorate office in Wangaratta were reportedly, “Thank you, you lovely people,” according to the Herald Sun.
Nugent, an unemployed loner with mental health issues, will front Wangaratta Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday charged with dangerous driving causing serious injury, intentionally causing serious injury and the Commonwealth offence of causing harm to a Commonwealth public official.
Causing harm to a Commonwealth public official carries a maximum penalty of 10 years’ imprisonment.
Nugent’s parents have been friends with Ms Haines for more 20 years, his father said in a statement.
His stepmother Dr Christine Cunningham was photographed with Ms Haines last year.
Nugent, who is thought to have suffered from schizophrenia, is estranged from his family.
The Alfred hospital says Ms Haines remains in a critical condition with no change from this morning.
Hospital staff say there will be no further information available today, with the next health update due tomorrow morning.
Accused’s family release statement
Brendan Nugent’s father Rod Nugent and partner Ms Cunningham released a statement on Tuesday.
“We will be assisting Victoria Police in any way we can,” the statement read.
“We would like to sincerely thank members of the local community and police who came to Helen’s aid yesterday after the shocking and horrific crime.
“Helen Haines is a deeply respected, valued and much loved member of our local community.
“Helen has been our friend for more than 20 years and what happened to her yesterday is devastating and unfathomable.
“All of our love and all of our thoughts are with Helen and her family and friends.”
Accused attacker ‘broke’ living with ‘chronic pain’
The man accused of the attack is an environmental activist who railed against Israel online.
In social media posts, Brendan Nugent said he was living in “chronic pain” and “broke”, and complained about “huge gaps” in the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS).
The 43-year-old is from Tarrawingee, a town of about 400 people just 15 minutes east of Wangaratta.
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An account on X believed to belong to Mr Nugent had previously posted photos of a LandCruiser with a licence plate matching the car used in the alleged attack on the federal member for Indi on Monday, as well as photos from around Tarrawingee.
Mr Nugent and Ms Haines followed each other on X.
The X account is being investigated by police and anti-terror authorities, according to The Australian.
The account’s bio reads, “Plant Person … The world should be run by dogs and children.”
He appeared to praise Ms Haines in 2019, writing, “Would’ve been nice to include a politician who takes climate change seriously, such as yourself,” in a reply to the MP after she promoted an episode of ABC panel show QandA.
Also in 2019, he tagged Ms Haines in a post criticising “LNP-funded anti-independent propaganda” in Indi.
Mr Nugent has voiced support for Gaza and environmental issues like climate change and forestry, speaking out against the Victorian government over logging projects.
His most recent post on October 18 was in reference to reports of “sexual abuse, including rape” of prisoners “during processing and detention by Israeli forces”.
Some of his posts touched on popular conspiratorial themes, including a re-post of a YouTube video titled, “The Whistleblower: Did Epstein’s Network Reemerge In Charlie Kirk’s World?”
A June 2022 reply to another user hinted at troubles in his personal life.
“You really have no idea, do you,” he wrote. “I have a masters degree, H1 average, still can get the basic assistance I need to work. Tried many times. Disability pension not enough to manage it so I’m constantly broke spending on health, NDIS is unavailable. We are left to sit in pain 24/7.”
In 2020 he reacted to an article about former PM Scott Morrison’s climate change policy. “Hey @GuardianAus and all media, please stop calling these people ‘conservative’,” he wrote. “There is no position more radical than the one they are proposing.”
The previous year he also hit out at Anthony Albanese, writing, “Pollution from coal fired power plants kills over 4000 Australians every year so please spare me your absurd hypocrisy as the leader of a pro-coal-at-any-cost party pretending to be concerned about the damage coal does to people and our planet.”
Mr Nugent was often critical of the state Labor Government.
“Your daily reminder that the native logging industry gets special treatment no other industry enjoys,” he posted in 2019.
“It’s not about jobs – plantations and dairy generate far more jobs and revenue. It’s about dodgy deals [between] @DanielAndrewsMP and the @CFMEU that are destroying rural communities.”
What condition is Helen Haines in?
Ms Haines has lost a leg after being pinned between two cars in the alleged vehicle ramming attack, the ABC reports.
The 65-year-old was initially taken to Wangaratta Hospital before being flown to Melbourne’s Alfred Hospital where she underwent emergency surgery overnight.
She remained in critical but stable condition on Tuesday afternoon.
Hero barber Ricky Jeffries, whose store is just a couple of shops down from where the incident unfolded, tackled the alleged driver to the ground after the incident.
“I don’t think I’m a hero. I think that I just was a person who had an opportunity to intervene in a safe-ish sort of way,” he said.
“He did have a knife. He didn’t pull it out. I just wasn’t comfortable with his movements, and so I basically just took it out of his pocket and threw it away.”
The barber declined to say what the alleged driver said at the scene. “That will be for the police. Yeah, that’s that’ll be for the cops, for the police,” he said.
Asked what was going through his head he said he wanted to stay safe.
“My wife will be disappointed if I’m injured. My family, is everything, and my community is second to that,” he said.
“And I was just trying to not get injured and not let anyone else be injured after the initial incident. I’m humbled, and I’m grateful. I feel grateful and blessed to have been here to help.
“The people, the other people here, they did so much more than me.
“That was my role to play in this, and but the other people here, like they deserve the credit, and it’s just it’s such a small town. It’s hard it’s hard to stand up here and talk because, you know, everyone here like the first … people on scene were people I know. The first police, [I] cut the hair of the first firies, cut their hair [of] the first ambos.”
Nugent ‘delirious’
Mr Nugent was reportedly “delirious” and “mumbling slurs” when detained by members of the public after the alleged vehicle ramming attack on Ms Haines.
News24 reports the 43-year-old was not interviewed by police on Monday night because he was still under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol.
“We thought he was trying to run away, but he then reversed and drove back into her another three times before trying to flee,” one witness told reporters, per The Sydney Morning Herald.
“I was there to restrain him against the wall, but yeah, more or less they got him out of the car. He was quite delirious … We did what we could. He was just more or less mumbling slurs and more worried about his personal belongings in his car than anyone else or the trouble he’s caused.”
Mr Nugent has been in custody since his arrest on Monday afternoon and spent this morning being questioned by detectives after undergoing a mental health assessment.
“They are ascertaining exactly what occurred, how and why,” Acting Superintendent Ashley Mason said.