A barber who rushed to help independent MP Helen Haines after she was allegedly run down in a deliberate attack in Wangaratta, about 250km from Melbourne, has been praised by the prime minister. Ricky Jefferies grabbed and held the driver who allegedly deliberately struck the Indi MP on Monday afternoon. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing The Guardian.
Jefferies had just finished cutting a young family's hair when a car hit Haines at about 4pm on Monday. When he heard the loud crash, he ran to help. "A lot of people got involved immediately, and they didn't even check the danger," he said. "They just ran to help. The driver was still in the car, the car was still on, and … one man sat in front of the moving car."
"I had no choice but to take him out of the car because it was the right and safest thing to do," Jefferies said. After getting the driver out, he held the man down and told him he couldn't leave but that he would be alright, trying to calm him while others helped Haines. He also alleged the man had a knife: "He did have a knife. He didn't pull it out. Basically just … took it out of his pocket and threw it away."
Witnesses have described the driver as doing a U-turn before allegedly ramming Haines against a vehicle, then reversing before doing it a second time, home affairs minister Tony Burke said on Tuesday morning. Haines was allegedly rammed twice on Murphy Street in Wangaratta on Monday afternoon and remains in a critical but stable condition on Tuesday morning. The prime minister alleged it was an attack and it "wasn't an accident".
Jefferies, who was back at work cutting hair at 7am on Tuesday, said he didn't stop to think about the danger, only that his wife might be upset if he got hurt. "[I just thought] my wife will be disappointed if I'm injured," he said. "My family is everything, and my community is second to that. I was just trying to not get injured and not let anyone else be injured after the initial incident."
Jefferies' actions have been widely commended on Tuesday, including by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Burke and the mayor of Wangaratta, Irene Grant. "It's got to be said here that at this dark and terrible time, an element of light is the fact that a good Samaritan, someone rushed to Helen's defence in Wangaratta … and that person is a hero today," Albanese told the Today Show. He added that Jefferies deserved enormous praise and thanks for his intervention, which could have prevented even further infliction of damage aimed at Helen.
Grant said she had spoken to the barber on Tuesday morning, saying he was taking it in his stride. "He was extraordinarily modest about the very brave action that he took yesterday … he did an amazing job."
Jefferies brushed the accolades aside, saying he doesn't want to be seen as a hero and that – like all of the community – he is praying Haines recovers quickly. "No one's job should put them at risk. I can tell you from my own personal dealings that she is a genuine, kind person," he said. "I don't think I'm the hero, I think that I just was a person who had an opportunity to intervene in a safe-ish sort of way."