KITCHENER -- A 48-year-old man has been charged with attempted murder after police responded to reports of a disturbance in Kitchener.
According to a news release, it happened on Monday at around 5:45 a.m. in the Laurentian West neighbourhood.
The victim, a 44-year-old woman, reportedly suffered non-life-threatening injuries as a result. Police said the victim and the accused are known to each other and that there was no concern for public safety.
Court documents show that on Dec. 21, the accused allegedly attempted to murder a woman by strangulation.
"Very concerning incident that was investigated by our front-line services," Chief Bryan Larkin said.
Police
Officials said there was no weapon used in this incident.
The accused also allegedly tried to disarm an officer and as a result has been charged with attempting to disarm a police officer.
That reportedly happened at a hospital, where the suspect was taken after the incident.
Larkin said the force has seen a sharp increase in domestic violence calls.
"Our concern during the pandemic, when people are in close quarters and they are locked down and isolating, one of the concerns is this crime going unreported," he said.
"Domestic violence rates are up about 30 per cent in Canada and we are starting to see that as well," said Jennifer Hutton, CEO of the Women's Crisis Centre of Waterloo Region.
She said their services remain available 24 hours a day.
Police did not publicly identify the accused. He's due in court via video on Dec. 22.
Anyone with information is asked to contact police. You can also contact Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.
