Ex-hostage walks free on all charges
Sets stage for fight with wife on child custody
OTTAWA • Former hostage Joshua Boyle walked out of court a free man Thursday after an Ottawa judge dismissed all of the domestic violence charges brought against him by his estranged wife, Caitlan Coleman.
The across-the-board acquittal sets the stage for a family court battle over the couple’s four children.
Boyle was charged with beating, confining, sexual assaulting and criminally harassing Coleman after they returned to Ottawa following five years of captivity in Afghanistan.
Ontario Court Justice Peter Doody, however, said he could believe neither the denials of Boyle nor the testimony of Coleman.
“Unless her evidence is independently confirmed, I do not believe it, just as I do not believe the evidence of Mr. Boyle,” the judge said in explaining how he decided in the case.
With very little independent evidence to confirm Coleman’s testimony, Doody ruled that the Crown had failed to prove any of the charges brought against Boyle.
“I have concluded that the evidence as a whole does not establish Mr. Boyle’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt,” the judge said in dismissing the first two counts of assault and sexual assault against Boyle. His reasoning for all 19 charges followed a similar pattern.
Boyle, stoic throughout his nine-month trial, displayed little emotion as the complete case against him was dismissed. His mother gave him a hug as they left the courtroom.
Outside the courthouse, Boyle’s lawyer Lawrence Greenspon said the family was extremely pleased with the result, which opens the door to a custody battle with Coleman over the couple’s children.
“Today is the first step towards getting access, and hopefully, someday, custody of his children: That has always been his priority,” Greenspon said of Boyle. “Today was a necessary first step in that direction.”
Coleman, 33, now lives in Pennsylvania with the couple’s four children, three of whom were born in captivity.
Boyle has never met his youngest child, who was born after his arrest on Dec. 31, 2017. A court order bars him from having contact with his children.
“He hasn’t seen his fourth child — ever,” Greenspon said, “and he hasn’t seen his other children in almost two years.”
Although the pending custody battle is “not going to be pretty,” Greenspon said, he urged everyone involved to keep in mind the welfare of the children.
Crown attorneys Jason Neubauer and Meaghan Cunningham refused comment after the judge delivered his verdict.
In his decision, Judge Doody said Coleman’s memory issues raised concerns about her ability to accurately recall the events at issue in the criminal case.
Coleman told court that she had trouble recalling traumatic events, particularly those involving Boyle; suffered “blackout periods” where she could remember little or nothing; and sometimes confused or conflated her memories of one event with something else from the past.
The judge gave examples of each of those memory failings from selected parts of Coleman’s testimony. Some touched on key incidents, Doody noted, such as whether or not Boyle raped her as alleged on Nov. 27, 2017.
“In my view, Ms. Coleman’s memory issues raise concerns about her ability to accurately recall the events in issue, the accuracy of what she says she recalls, and whether those events described took place,” Doody concluded.
Similarly, Doody said, he had concerns about the credibility and reliability of Boyle as a witness because of his evasiveness, his repeated attempts to “control the narrative,” and inconsistencies in his testimony.
“There is very little evidence confirming or contradicting the testimony of Ms. Coleman or Mr. Boyle,” he noted. “However, this trial is not a credibility contest. The issue is whether the Crown has proven each of the elements of each of the offences beyond a reasonable doubt. “
As Greenspon later noted: “Had it been a credibility contest it would have been a tie: They both lost.”
Boyle, 36, spent five years in forced captivity with Coleman in Afghanistan and Pakistan
after being kidnapped by Taliban-linked militants in October 2012.
Coleman told court that Boyle slapped, punched, bit and choked her while in captivity then continued that abuse when they returned home to Ottawa in October 2017.
Boyle, however, flatly denied Coleman’s lurid allegations while painting himself as a thoughtful, caring husband who did his best to mange his wife’s mental illness and violent fits.