Gatineau police say a man believed to have assaulted a woman as she walked her dogs in Aylmer will be officially charged when he appears in court.

Brian Sharpe said his wife was walking the family's two dogs in a wooded area near their home on Saturday night. That's when she was assaulted by a man carrying sticks, police and her husband say.

Sharpe was at home when his wife used her cellphone to call him, saying she had been attacked in the woods between Bell and Norval-Jones streets in the Aylmer neighbourhood off Lucerne Boulevard.

He told her to hang up and call police, Sharpe told CBC News by phone Sunday morning from the hospital where his wife stayed overnight.

Gatineau, Que., police received the 911 call at about 8:15 p.m. and arrived at the scene just ahead of Sharpe.

On Sunday evening, police said they arrested a 21-year-old man in the same area of the attack. A spokesman said he would be charged with assault with a weapon when he appears in court on Tuesday.

The man, who also appeared via telephone on Monday, will not be identified until he is officially charged.

Woman had previous encounter with the same man, husband says

"He hit her repeatedly with the stick on the head and the arm. She's got an injured left arm where she defended herself with it, she's got bruises on her chest, she's got cuts on her arms, stitches, a concussion. A couple of fingers [were broken]. They thought her arm was broken at first but it was just badly bruised," Sharpe said.

It wasn't the first time his wife had encountered the suspect, Sharpe said.

A couple of weeks ago she was walking her dogs in the same area when the same man approached and struck one of her dogs with a stick he was carrying, Sharpe said.

Gatineau police say they charged a man linked to an assault on this path in Aylmer during the evening of May 16, 2015. (CBC) When she saw him again on Saturday night she got out her cellphone to film him with the intention of trying to bring animal cruelty charges against him, Sharpe said.

"It was an 'I recognize you' kind of thing and the guy just went ballistic on her," Sharpe said. "He turned and ... went at her. And she got pretty banged up.

"I'd like five minutes alone in a room with him but it's probably better that the police see him first. I'm very angry that somebody would do something like that, especially when — I have no idea how big this guy is — but my wife is about five feet three [inches tall]," he said.

"It's just shocking that something like this would happen in sleepy little Aylmer. We've been living in Aylmer for going on 20 years and really, up until last night, you got the occasional kids acting up and littering ... but you don't think of it as the crime central."

Sharpe's wife was expected to be released from hospital Sunday.