UPDATE: A MOTHER and daughter charged over an alleged ­attack on a bus driver where he was punched, bit and spat at are adamant they were not in the wrong.

Last night they said they would fight the charges.

Leaving Dandenong police station holding her daughter’s hand after both were questioned, the 40-year-old mum, from Noble Park, blamed the driver.

Police did not raise any concerns or allegations regarding the bus driver, a bishop and father of five.

But the mother said: “I just want to say ... he hit me first ... and I proceeded to punch him. So he did it first on my side of the head and I have the photos to prove it.’’

CCTV footage, released by police yesterday in a public appeal to catch the alleged culprits, shows the mother and her 22-year-old daughter allegedly attacking the driver, Faavae Tuiloma, on the 893 route from Cranbourne to Dandenong after he confronted them over an alleged failure to swipe their mykis.

The family man, who has been the bishop at his local church for five years, claims he was left “rattled” and bleeding after the women attacked him as the bus stood outside Dandenong station at 2.50pm on November 29

“They were screaming and yelling at me,” he said. “I said to them, ‘Why are you getting mad at me when I’m just doing my job?’.

“She said to me ‘you embarrassed me in front of those people’ ... all of a sudden she just punched me.”

But the mother said police failed to show all the footage. She has been charged with intentionally and recklessly causing injury, unlawful assault and wilful damage.

The pair were bailed to appear in Dandenong Magistrates’ Court on March 18.

rebekah.cavanagh@news.com.au