Police initially thought the girl was attacked by an animal due her injuries, but later arrested a 17-year-old boy

A small rural community in Canada is reeling after police said the horrific attack of an eight-year-old girl was not caused by an animal, as they had suspected, but allegedly by a teenage boy who they have now charged with attempted murder.

The residents of Quadeville, a town of a few hundred people in southern Ontario, are questioning local law enforcement’s handling of the case after officials initially told them to keep their children indoors to protect them against a possible offending animal.

The girl was first reported missing on 23 June, with the Ontario provincial police (OPP) saying she was last seen around 6pm at a local grocery store wearing a T-shirt and shorts.

She was found with serious injuries later that night, around 12.30am, in a clearing in a wooded area of the community, and taken to a children’s hospital in nearby Ottawa.

On 25 June, police investigators announced that they suspected she had been hurt in an animal attack but that further testing was needed.

Last week they said they had, in fact, arrested and charged a 17-year-old boy with sexual assault with a weapon and attempted murder. As a minor he cannot be named under the Youth Criminal Justice Act.

The OPP’s Bill Dickson said officers at first believed the girl was attacked by an animal due to the nature of her injuries, but that he could not comment on them in detail.

“While we proceeded looking at this as a suspected animal attack, the investigation also continued to look at other aspects,” Dickson said. “You can’t go into an investigation like this with tunnel vision.” He added that police could not comment on what led them to arrest the teenager, as the case is before the courts.

The allegations have rocked the one-intersection community, whose close-knit nature is illustrated by the fact that the victim’s family and the suspect’s family know each other, Dickson said.

After the attack, police held a town hall on 12 July to address swirling questions, including why it took them until 9pm on the day the girl went missing to begin searching. “It does take time to get some of the specialized services here,” Derek Needham, acting chief superintendent with the OPP, told residents, according to the CBC, though a resident responded: “As a parent, that’s not good enough … you guys should be there when the call is put out.”

The local Pentecostal church has led a fundraiser for the family, with the pastor, Joseph Fiorentino, stating that the girl “is showing signs of improvement”, adding: “Her recovery is hopeful, but the road will be long.”

Source: www.theguardian.com