Suspect in Helen Haines attack once praised the MP online and had raised concern among neighbours

Police visited the property of the man arrested for allegedly running down Helen Haines about three months ago when neighbours became concerned about his erratic behaviour.

Brendan Nugent remains in custody after hero locals performed a citizen’s arrest when the 43-year-old allegedly attacked Haines outside her Wangaratta electoral office on Monday afternoon.

As counter-terrorism police and ASIO continue to probe possible motives over what they say appears to be a targeted attack, a picture is emerging of Nugent from locals.

The Tarrawingee man has a history of activism in the area, but sources who knew him said he had changed dramatically since his days protesting logging in the local forest, and some had become increasingly concerned about his mental health.

Nugent’s sprawling property is a short drive from central Wangaratta and was raided by police on Monday night after the incident. It remained cordoned off by detectives on Tuesday. Nugent had lived there for seven years, neighbours said. He had few friends and locals said his family had also become concerned about his recent behaviour and rarely visited.

One neighbour, Peter, who requested his surname not be used, said he had made repeated calls to Triple Zero over the past year regarding Nugent’s concerning behaviour.

“He’s an absolute nut job,” Peter said. “He would put music on at 4pm and it would be blaring until eight in the morning.

“He was an absolute nightmare and there were a couple of elderly ladies who lived closer to him, who were too scared to report him to police.”

Peter, a business owner who lives about 700 metres from Nugent, said Wangaratta police had gone to Nugent’s property about three months ago and conducted a welfare check.

Neighbours claimed Nugent had recently spent several weeks at a mental health facility in Wangaratta.

Nugent’s social media history reveals he once praised Haines and backed her independent campaign in the area, as well as posting about the Israel-Gaza conflict and medicinal cannabis as pain treatment.

In 2019, Nugent commented on one of Haines’ posts, and said it would be good to see a politician like her “who takes climate change seriously”.

In an April 2019 post, he also complained about a “wave of LNP funded anti-independent propaganda” that he claimed appeared to have been tailored specifically to target Haines’ electorate of Indi, in apparent support for Haines. Haines won the seat at the 2019 federal election.

Nugent’s comments on posts by Haines in 2020, including one querying the MP over her support for the forestry sector in June of that year, did not attract a response from Haines.

Haines, 65, remains in a critical condition with life-changing injuries after she was repeatedly struck by a four-wheel-drive. Pictures of the white Toyota LandCruiser, including matching number plate, at the scene of Monday afternoon’s incident feature on Nugent’s social media.

Russell, a butcher in the Wangaratta area who did not wish to give his surname for safety reasons, said Nugent had come in to have his knives sharpened in days before the incident, and he had seemed like “a normal bloke”.

Social media shows Nugent played football locally growing up and campaigned to protect native wildlife.

But, according to one source who knows him, since the COVID pandemic Nugent had been railing against government and straying into other activism, as he battled health issues.

His posts had shifted over recent years from local environmentalism to criticising Israel’s war in Gaza, and calling for donations to children in the war-torn Congo.

He criticised the government’s approach to Israel in a series of comments on posts by Senator Penny Wong. In 2024, he accused the Australian government of being “US lap dogs”.

“Maybe if you had warned Israel about [Iran’s] attacks, the world wouldn’t be where it is right now,” he wrote.

“You have not been clear on anything other than giving Israel impunity to kill thousands of children,” he commented on another post by Wong a month later.

Earlier in 2024, he defended Houthi strikes on ships in the Red Sea in retaliation against Israel, in a comment on a post from Defence Minister Richard Marles.

State MP Tim McCurdy, who represents the area for the Nationals, told 3AW Nugent was known in the area and “has been in contact with our office over the journey”.

But McCurdy said Nugent had not made any threats. “Not down that path, but he’s known to our office as well. So I don’t know whether he’s frequented Helen’s office or not. I’m not clear about that, but he’s been in touch with our office over the journey. So he’s known to us.”

McCurdy said he wasn’t planning to take any extra safety precautions at his electoral office following Monday’s incident.

“You can’t help, I suppose, think about these circumstances,” he said. “And, you know, being a bloke walking around a rural town, I don’t feel threatened at all. But I know there are women colleagues in this role who sometimes can feel threatened. And I hear what they’re saying, and we understand that. And we have to address how we can help them to feel safer and be safer by just doing their job.”

Nugent remains in custody and police say he will be interviewed on Tuesday.

Australian Federal Police Commissioner Krissy Barrett said Nugent might face state and federal charges.

“At this stage, it appears this is an isolated incident, and there are no known threats connected to this matter,” Barrett said.

“Victoria Police and the AFP are working closely together to identify potential charges, which may include state and Commonwealth offences, such as the offence of causing harm to a Commonwealth public official, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years’ imprisonment.”

With Carla Jaeger, Annika Smethurst and James Costa

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