Ex-hostage Boyle’s testimony at assault trial was evasive: Crown

OTTAWA — Former Afghanistan hostage Joshua Boyle has woven a fictional, self-serving narrative to disguise the fact he demeaned, subjugated and assaulted his wife Caitlan Coleman, a Crown attorney charged Tuesday at Boyle’s criminal trial.

“He effectively coercively controlled her, and this developed over a number of years,” prosecutor Jason Neubauer said as he began the Crown’s concluding arguments.

Boyle, 36, has pleaded not guilty to several offences against Coleman including assault, sexual assault and unlawful confinement in the period of October to December 2017. The incidents are alleged to have taken place after he and Coleman returned to Canada following five years as hostages in the hands of Taliban-linked extremists. The couple settled into an Ottawa apartment in 2017 with the three children Coleman had in captivity.

Boyle has disputed allegations he mistreated Coleman verbally or physically, portraying her as unstable and prone to fits that made family life extremely difficult.

During the trial, Boyle has described himself as a masochist who sleeps on the floor, partakes in bondage-style sex and has little regard for his personal safety. Boyle’s lawyers have acknowledged he is unconventional and even unlikeable, but stress that he scrupulously adheres to the truth.

Neubauer assailed the reasoning as “a straw man,” saying the Crown is not arguing that someone who deviates from social norms is less credible than the next person.

Rather, Boyle’s testimony is unbelievable and incapable of raising reasonable doubt about the criminal charges he faces, Neubauer said. “Aspects of it are incompatible with common sense.” The prosecutor variously described Boyle’s statements in the witness box as illogical, evasive, fabricated, argumentative and “outright lies.”

Neubauer cited a complimentary, loving text message Boyle apparently sent Coleman, one quickly followed by a second message saying: “Oops, wrong address — April Fool’s, expect painful biting tonight.” He accused Boyle of contradicting himself by first acknowledging he sent the text, then saying he didn’t know if it was his message.

Lawyer Lawrence Greenspon asserted Tuesday that Coleman fled the apartment she shared with Boyle and accused him of assault as part of a plan to win custody of their children and make a new life in the United States.