Man charged after 10-year-old girl badly beaten in Montreal's east end

An SPVM police cruiser. (CTV News file photo)

A Montreal man is facing multiple charges after a 10-year-old girl was badly beaten in the city's east end Monday in what her family claims was an unprovoked attack. 

"The young girl was walking with a friend on the sidewalk when a 21-year-old man approach them and for reasons still to be determined, started to punch the young girl and drag her a couple of metres until people that noticed the altercation got involved," said Raphaël Bergeron, a spokesperson with Montreal police (SPVM).

The girl was sent to hospital with serious injuries to her head and upper body.

A woman who identified herself as a relative of the victim shared a photo on social media showing the girl in hospital with a neck brace and a bloodied face covered in bandages.

The relative says the girl was attacked on her regular walk home for lunch in the Pointe-aux-Trembles neighbourhood and that the ordeal has been a "nightmare" for the family.

"A young man aged 21 attacked her for nothing," wrote the relative, who cannot be named in order to protect the girl's identity, which is shielded by a publication ban. "He went towards her and put her on the ground to start beating her and disfiguring her beautiful, angelic face for, I repeat, no good reason."

The family is calling for justice for the young girl.

Tanvir Singh, 21, appeared in court Tuesday and was charged with aggravated assault, two counts of assault with a weapon causing bodily harm and possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose.

"The motive is still to be determined, a possible psychological evaluation to be done, probably mental health issues that could be causing that, but it's still to be determined," said Bergeron, adding the victim is also suffering from "violent nervous shock."

The accused, who has no prior criminal history in Quebec, is expected to appear in court Wednesday for a bail hearing. 

Meanwhile, an online fundraiser has raised more than $11,000 to support the girl's family. 

Tuesday, politicians reacted to the attack, including Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante, who called the event "very disturbing" at a press conference. 

"Violence has no place in Montreal and a child should never be subjected to it," she said on social media.

Quebec Liberal (PLQ) Leader Dominique Anglade also posted a message online saying she was "heartbroken" by the incident.

"I never thought a young girl would be attacked on her way home from school," she said.