Charges laid after woman's hijab ripped off

A 62-year-old woman is facing charges of assault and mischief in connection with the Oct. 6 assault in the city's Hintonburg neighbourhood, police say. (CBC - image credit)

An Ottawa woman is facing assault and mischief charges after allegedly removing another woman's hijab in what police are calling a random, hate-motivated attack.

The victim was walking down Hinton Avenue North, near Armstrong Avenue, in the middle of the afternoon on Oct. 6 when another woman "forcefully removed her hijab," Ottawa police wrote in a release Monday.

The alleged attacker then ran away before officers arrived.

Police said their hate crime unit was later able to identify the suspect as a 62-year-old woman.

She was already in custody on another matter when the charges were laid, police said, and is scheduled to appear in court Tuesday.

While most hateful incidents don't meet the definitions outlined in Canada's Criminal Code, harsher sentences can be given out if evidence suggests a crime was motivated by hate.