Joshua Boyle, who was recently freed from captivity after years of being held hostage in Afghanistan has been arrested and faces 15 charges including sexual assault
Ex-hostage, Joshua Boyle, who was recently freed from captivity in Afghanistan with his wife and children, has been arrested on 15 charges, including sexual assault.
Boyle, of Canada, his American wife Caitlan, and their three children were rescued last October in Pakistan, five years after the couple was abducted by a Taliban-linked militant group while on a backpacking trip in neighboring Afghanistan.
The children were all born in captivity.
Authorities said the charges include eight counts of assault, two accounts of sexual assault and two counts of unlawful confinement.
Boyle was reportedly charged with one count of causing someone to ‘take a noxious thing, namely Trazodone,’ an antidepressant, court documents indicated Tuesday.
There is also a charge of uttering a death threat and a charge of misleading a police officer.
The purported acts allegedly occurred between October 14 and December 30 after Boyle returned to Canada.
A publication ban bars reporting any information that could identify the alleged victims.
Authorities said the charges include eight counts of assault, two accounts of sexual assault and two counts of unlawful confinement. Boyle was reportedly charged with one count of causing someone to ‘take a noxious thing, namely Trazodone’
A day after they were rescued, Boyle told the AP in October that his wife, Caitlan (pictured) had been hospitalized in Ottawa, but did not specify why she was taken to the hospital
In a statement to the Toronto Star, Boyle’s wife (left) wrote: ‘I can’t speak about the specific charges, but I can say that ultimately it is the strain and trauma 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’
A hearing on the case was scheduled for Wednesday in Ottawa, but Boyle’s lawyer told The Associated Press on Tuesday that Boyle would not attend in person. He said Boyle was in custody.
Ottawa police declined comment. Eric Granger, Boyle’s attorney, said he had not seen the court documents yet.
‘Mr Boyle is presumed innocent. He’s never been in trouble before. No evidence has been provided yet, which is typical at this early stage. We look forward to receiving the evidence and defending him against these charges,’ Granger said in an email.
In a statement to the Toronto Star, Boyle’s wife wrote: ‘I can’t speak about the specific charges, but I can say that ultimately it is the strain and trauma 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.’
‘Obviously, he is responsible for his own actions,’ she added, ‘but it is with compassion and forgiveness that I say I hope help and healing can be found for him. As to the rest of us, myself and the children, we are healthy and holding up as well as we can.’
Boyle told the AP in October that his wife had been hospitalized in Ottawa, but did not specify why she was taken to the hospital. He took a picture of her in her hospital bed and emailed it to the AP.
Boyle and his wife were abducted in 2012 by a Taliban-linked militant group while on a backpacking trip in Afghanistan
The parents of Caitlan, who is from Stewartstown, Pennsylvania, said after the rescue that they were elated she had been freed, but they also expressed anger at their son-in law for taking their pregnant daughter to Afghanistan. They are pictured while still in captivity
Pakistani troops rescued the family in an operation October 11 aimed at their captors from the Taliban-linked Haqqani group
He also told the AP that he and his wife decided to have children even while held captive because they always planned to have a big family.
‘We’re sitting as hostages with a lot of time on our hands,’ Boyle said. ‘We always wanted as many as possible, and we didn’t want to waste time. Cait’s in her 30s, the clock is ticking.’
Boyle said then that their three children were 4, 2 and ‘somewhere around 6 months’.
‘Honestly we’ve always planned to have a family of 5, 10, 12 children… We’re Irish, haha,’ he wrote in an email in October.
The parents of Caitlan Boyle, who is from Stewartstown, Pennsylvania, said after the rescue that they were elated she had been freed, but they also expressed anger at their son-in law for taking their pregnant daughter to Afghanistan.
The Pakistanis caught the Haqqani fighters at some point after they had moved with their captives across the border from Afghanistan
Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry said the operation was based on a tip from US intelligence. Boyle is pictured with one of his children at their family home in Smith Falls, Ontario, Canada
Pakistani troops rescued the family in an operation October 11 aimed at their captors, the Taliban-linked Haqqani group.
The Pakistanis caught the Haqqani fighters at some point after they had moved with their captives across the border from Afghanistan.
Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry said the operation was based on a tip from US intelligence.
Boyle was once briefly married to Zaynab Khadr, the older sister of former Guantanamo Bay detainee Omar Khadr and the daughter of a senior al-Qaida financier who had contacts with Osama bin Laden.
The Canadian-born Omar Khadr was 15 when he was captured by US troops following a firefight and was taken to the US detention center at Guantanamo Bay.
Officials had discounted any link between that background and Boyle’s capture, with one describing it in 2014 as a ‘horrible coincidence’.
Boyle and his family met with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in the leader’s office last month.
A Twitter account named ‘The Boyle Family’ posted photos of Boyle, his wife, and their three children inside what appears to be the prime minister’s Parliament Hill office.
Boyle and his family met with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in the leader’s office last month
A Twitter account named ‘The Boyle Family’ posted photos of Boyle, his wife, and their three children inside what appears to be the prime minister’s Parliament Hill office