A brief hearing in a packed regional courthouse
So many journalists travelled to Wangaratta magistrates court on Wednesday that the courtroom could not hold them all, and some waited in the corridor or tried to follow proceedings remotely. They had come for a first look at Brendan Nugent, arrested two days earlier less than 100 metres from the court over the alleged attack on the independent MP Helen Haines outside her electorate office.[S1][S2]
Nugent, 43, spoke not a word during the short hearing and gazed ahead with a downcast expression, dressed in a grey jumper and wearing a long beard. He made no application for bail and will stay behind bars until a committal mention scheduled for 4 February next year.[S1]
Magistrate Allison Vaughan observed that Nugent had mental health and neurological issues and that this was his first period in custody. His lawyer, Chirag Patel, told the court that Nugent has idiopathic transverse myelitis, an uncommon spinal-cord inflammation that can bring muscle weakness, pain and bladder problems, and that he had also suffered concussion.[S1]
According to Patel, Nugent takes no prescribed medication and was not withdrawing from any substance, but Vaughan asked a mental health professional to assess him straight after the appearance.[S1]
A neighbour in the front row
No relatives or friends attended to back Nugent. The one local face was a neighbour from Tarrawingee, who sat firmly in the front row and asked not to be named. The neighbour said they were trembling but felt compelled to look him in the eye, describing the experience afterwards as the closing of a very bad chapter in their life.[S1]
The hearing lasted only minutes, and Nugent left by a rear door. Photographers crowded the back exit and aimed their lenses through a fence, while others positioned themselves atop a nearby car park hoping for a distant shot.[S1]
Flowers and cards at a shuttered office
Haines' electorate office stayed closed and silent on Wednesday apart from the dozens of flowers and cards left for her. The MP, who has had both legs amputated, is in a stable condition in hospital. Investigators have not established a motive, and the reason for the alleged attack remains unknown.[S1]
Tributes kept arriving at the office, many in the orange associated with the regional independent movement. One message from Victoria police's eastern region offered support in return for the backing she had given others in hard times, while another, written in a child's hand, said simply that she is very nice.[S1]
Haines is a widely liked local member with a long record of community involvement, including a healthcare career in which she worked as a midwife to many residents. Nugent's father said on Tuesday that the two men had been friends for decades, underlining how personally the case has landed in the town.[S1]
