Politician in hiding after drug shooting

An Australian politician is in hiding overseas after her house was sprayed with bullets by a man chasing a drug debt of one of her sons.

Lorraine Wreford an MP from Victoria, Australia was urgently relocated to a motel in Melbourne's CBD after the shooting.

The shooting, which occurred last month, was before court yesterday in Melbourne.

Police gave evidence that Wreford said since the incident she has since had trouble sleeping, is stressed and ''genuinely frightened'', has ''taken leave of her duties'' and is now overseas.

Sen-Det Stephen Boyle reportedly told the Melbourne Magistrates' Court yesterday that one of six men arrested over the July 5 incident said Wreford's eldest son Adrian was the target of the shooting.

He said the alleged shooter, drove to Wreford's home at about 5am to collect a $5000 debt from Adrian.

But due to bad weather Wreford didn’t hear the shots. It was not until she started to drive to work that morning that she saw the car's shattered back window and a bullet hole.

According to a report in the Age, police found bullet casings at the scene and established that at least eight shots had struck the house, door and car, and one had passed through a chair and lodged in a wall.