Anti-Israel activist is charged with driving 4×4 into Australian MP, causing her to lose a leg – as his family reveal she had been a friend of theirs for 20 years

Independent MP Helen Haines was critically injured when a man allegedly drove a four-wheel drive into her outside her office in Wangaratta, Victoria. The attack, which has shocked Australia, is being treated as an escalation in political violence in a country where politicians are generally accessible to the public.

Police have charged 43-year-old Brendan Nugent with intentionally causing serious injury and causing harm to a federal official; he is due in court on Wednesday. Reports say Haines, 65, lost one leg and doctors are trying to save the other. Nugent’s family said Haines had been their friend for more than 20 years and that they would assist police, while a local barber helped bystanders restrain the suspect.