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A 35-year-ancient Canadian who uses a wheelchair was beaten violently in Sydney, Australia, on Tuesday and is hospitalized in serious condition, according to police reports.

The man, whose name has not been released, was waiting to catch a train at a city train station at about 11 p.m. local time when he was approached and verbally assaulted by two teenage boys, the New South Wales police said on their website.

A still from video footage captured at the Mt. Druitt train station shows the Canadian man with one of his alleged assailants, right. (CCTV/City Rail)

The man tried to leave the station via an elevator, but was punched in the face by one of the boys and knocked from his wheelchair, police said.

The teenagers allegedly then stomped on the man, and hit him on the head and body with metal bars including one from his wheelchair. They ran away with the man’s belongings and wheelchair, police said, but returned later — and repeatedly — to continue beating him.

Charges laid

Police have charged a 16-year-ancient boy with intent to cause bodily harm and armed robbery. He was denied bail and remains in custody pending a second court date on April 8. A second teenager turned himself in to police on Wednesday at about 7 p.m. local time.

The man remains in a hospital northeast of Sydney, where he was being prepared for surgery on Thursday morning to treat severe cuts to his head and a depression to his skull.

He was “awake and lucid and doing quite well under the circumstances,” his girlfriend, Kristin Sharrock, told CBC News.

But he’s “distraught, obviously, and very upset, and just can’t believe that it’s happened,” Sharrock said.

Sharrock said her boyfriend had gone to a pub to listen to a Canadian band and was on his way home when the beating happened.

“He’s a kind, generous, strong individual,” Sharrock told reporters on Wednesday, fighting back tears. “He doesn’t deserve what’s happened to him.”

Motive unknown

The incident “appears to be a random act” and police have not determined a motive, police spokeswoman Joanne Elliott told CBC News.

“[I've] never heard of an assault like this ever in [20 years],” Elliott said. “And I know that very, very experienced police who have worked in Sydney’s western suburbs for 20 years … were absolutely appalled by what happened.”

But according to freelance reporter Tim Stackpool, many in the community say this type of beating “was destined to happen.”

“The crime rate there has been going up and up and up and up,” Stackpool told CBC News. The police have been doing their utmost to keep it under control, but this is a place in Sydney where perhaps there is not a lot for the youth of the streets to … do.”