Charges laid after woman's hijab ripped off

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 AvenueNorth,near Armstrong Avenue, in the middle of the afternoon on Oct. 6 when another woman"forcefully removed herhijab," Ottawa police wrote in a release Monday.

The alleged attacker then ran away before officers arrived.

Police said their hate crime unitwas later ableto identify the suspect as a62-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 incidentsdon'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.