Questions about Quadeville attack remain after police town hall, residents say

Dozens of community members in Quadeville, Ont., attended a town hall hosted by Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) Saturday evening, following a vicious attack on an eight-year-old girl that has shaken the small village.

Police said they aimed to address concerns from residents at the meeting, which nearly filled the Quadeville Community Centre. While some people who showed up praised the police approach, others felt they left with questions unanswered.

"We all really want to know exactly what happened," Tom Bekiaris said after the meeting.

Residents of the village, located about 70 kilometres west of Renfrew, have lived under a cloud of uncertainty for nearly three weeks since the young girl was found in the woods with life-threatening injuries.

OPP initially said they suspected an animal attack, but revealed in a news release Wednesday night they'd charged a 17-year-old male from eastern Ontario with attempted murder and sexual assault with a weapon.

Both the accused and the girl cannot be named as their identities are protected under the Youth Criminal Justice Act.

At the town hall, people asked about when the accused became a suspect and why police didn't raise the possibility of human involvement in the attack sooner.

Police warned they were limited in what they could answer due to a publication ban on the youth's identity and their ongoing investigation.

"There's going to be a lot of things specific to an investigation that we won't [answer]," said Derek Needham, acting chief superintendent with OPP. "Hopefully we can answer some questions that are out there."

At the outset of the meeting, Needham addressed the impact the attack had on the community.

"It's pretty easy to see that Quadeville, like a lot of small communities, is a community where people know each other, people rely on each other," he said.

Bekiaris, who lives in the village, said he was surprised about the events that happened in the "tight-knit" community.

"Everybody's related to each other somehow or around," Bekiaris said. "It's almost like how could family do something like that?"

Residents also raised questions about safety. For more than two weeks after the girl was found, police told residents to keep their children indoors or under close supervision.