Freed Canadian hostage faces assualt charges
◗ During capitivity Boyle said that one of his children had been murdered and his spouse was raped after their capture by the Taliban- allied Haqqani network
Montreal, Jan. 3: A Canadian man who was held captive by a faction of the Afghan Taliban for five years has been arrested on 15 charges including sexual assault, illegal confinement and issuing death threats, according to reports on Tuesday.
Joshua Boyle, his wife Caitlin Coleman and three children arrived back in Canada last October. At the time he said one of his children had been murdered and spouse was raped after their capture by the Taliban- allied Haqqani network.
The identity of the alleged victim was being withheld by a court, according to Boyle’s lawyer Eric Granger.
Granger added his client was “presumed innocent” and had never been in any form of legal trouble before.
“We look forward to receiving the evidence and defending him against these charges,” he said, adding Boyle would appear before a court in Ottawa on Wednesday.
According to news channel CTV, Boyle is facing eight counts of assault, two counts of sexual assault and two counts of unlawful confinement, as well as one each of misleading police to “divert suspicion from himself,” uttering a death threat, and administering a noxious substance, Trazodone.
In a statement to The Toronto Star, Boyle’s wife would not comment on the specific charges “But I can say that ultimately it is the strain. He was forced to endure for so many years and the effects that that had on his mental state that is most culpable for this.”
She said “with compassion and forgiveness that I... hope help and healing can be found for him.”
Coleman added that she and the children were healthy. Boyle and Coleman, who have been married since 2011, were kidnapped by Taliban during what they described as a backpacking trip through war- torn Afghanistan in 2012, and were later transferred to the custody of the Haqqani faction, known for its ties to the Pakistani military.