A seven-year-old Gambian girl has died in Belgium following an alleged severe beating, in a tragedy that has shocked the Senegalese community in the country, according to Les Échos.

The newspaper reports that the incident occurred against a backdrop of longstanding tensions between the girl’s Senegalese mother, identified as Aminata, and her Gambian former husband, Abdou Ly Manneh.

The couple had reportedly been separated for six years.

Although custody of the child had been granted to her mother, the girl continued to spend weekends with her father and had reportedly expressed on several occasions a wish to live with him.

According to Les Échos, this allegedly caused tension between the child and her mother.

The situation reportedly escalated when the mother, assisted by a female friend, allegedly assaulted the girl. The newspaper reports that the injuries sustained were so severe that the seven-year-old died.

The mother and her friend have been arrested and are the subject of a judicial investigation aimed at establishing the exact circumstances surrounding the child’s death.