Joshua Boyle remanded again

OTTAWA— Joshua Boyle will remain in custody until at least Jan. 26, after being remanded again Monday during his fourth court appearance since his arrest two weeks ago.

The 34-year-old former hostage in Afghanistan and Pakistan faces 15 charges that include eight counts of assault, two counts of sexual assault, two counts of unlawful confinement and one count each of uttering death threats, misleading police and giving someone a noxious substance.

His legal team will meet with a judge and Crown attorney Jason Neubauer on Jan. 24 for a pretrial hearing to discuss the case and how it will proceed, Justice Catherine Kehoe told Boyle, who appeared by video from the Ottawa-Carleton Detention Centre.

Boyle will appear in court again two days later, Kehoe said, moments after Boyle told her he had “no idea” what was being discussed in court.

A court order prevents the publication of information that could identify any alleged victims in the case.

Police allege all the offences occurred after Boyle and his family returned to Canada, between Oct. 14 and Dec. 30, 2017.

None of the allegations have been proven in court.

Boyle and his wife Caitlan Coleman were backpacking in Afghanistan in 2012 when their ordeal began. The Taliban-linked Haqqani network, which the Canadian government deems a terrorist organization, captured them and held them hostage for five years.

During their captivity, Coleman gave birth to their three children. She also had a miscarriage, which Coleman and Boyle have said was a result of a forced abortion when their captors dosed her food with high levels of estrogen.

The family was eventually released last October after what Boyle described in an interview as a gunfight between his captors and Pakistani forces.

The gunfight came after Boyle, Coleman and their children were placed in the trunk of their captors’ vehicle for transport to a new hideout.