Australian Lawmaker Helen Haines Has Both Legs Amputated After Alleged Deliberate Car Attack, Husband Says: She Is Alive and Stable
MELBOURNE — The Australian lawmaker hit by a car in an allegedly deliberate attack has now had both legs amputated, her husband announced on Wednesday, October 21. Helen Haines, an independent federal MP, remains in hospital after being hit on a main road outside her electorate office in Wangaratta, in northeastern Victoria, on Monday afternoon, CNN reported. "Helen's left leg was amputated on Monday. We had been hoping that her right leg would be saved, but… the surgeons had to also remove her right leg," Phil Haines, the MP's husband of nearly 40 years, told a press conference at The Alfred hospital in Melbourne. "But the good news in all this is Helen is alive and she's stable," he added. GSM reported earlier on Wednesday that one of her legs had been amputated while doctors were still trying to save the other.
Haines, 65, has represented her community as an independent MP since 2019. On Monday she was standing at the rear of her parked car, unpacking items from the trunk, when a man driving a Toyota Land Cruiser drove past her before allegedly turning around and ramming her into her vehicle; it is not clear why, CNN reported. As bystanders rushed to her aid, a local barber pulled the driver from the car, detaining him until police arrived, and Haines was airlifted to Melbourne for surgery.
The alleged attacker, 43-year-old Brendan Nugent, faced court on Wednesday charged with dangerous driving causing serious injury, intentionally causing serious injury and causing harm to a Commonwealth public official. Speaking after Phil Haines at the same press conference, Governor-General Sam Mostyn said she was keeping King Charles III updated on developments; the governor-general is appointed by the king as Australia's formal head of state, though the country is led by a prime minister under a parliamentary system.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：澳大利亚议会大厦黄昏（堪培拉，资料图；海恩斯为联邦议员）。Thennicke 摄，CC BY-SA 4.0，取自维基共享资源。Photo: Parliament House at dusk, Canberra (file photo; Haines is a federal MP). By Thennicke, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
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