Former hostage Joshua Boyle awaits bail hearing

A bail hearing for former Afghanistan hostage Joshua Boyle could be weeks away after a brief court appearance relating to the multiple sexual assault charges he is facing.

Wearing an orange prison jumpsuit, the 34-year-old faced an Ottawa court in Canada by video link on Monday.

Boyle, who is Canadian, has not yet had a bail hearing and will remain in custody until he faces court again on January 26. 

When the judge asked him on Monday if he understood what was happening, Boyle replied: ‘I have no idea.’

He later thanked the court for explaining the judicial pretrial procedure, according to the Ottawa Citizen.  

His lawyers are seeking disclosure of the evidence against him and are working on a bail plan. 

Boyle is facing 15 charges, including eight counts of assault, two of sexual assault, two of unlawful confinement and one count of causing someone to take a noxious thing. 

Court documents indicated the noxious charge relates to Trazodone, which is an anti-depressant. 

A publication ban bars reporting information that could identify the alleged victims.

Boyle, his American wife Caitlan and their three children were freed in October in Pakistan – five years after the couple was abducted by a Taliban-linked group during a backpacking trip in Afghanistan. 

The children – two boys aged 2 and 4 and a baby girl – were born in captivity.

Boyle, his American wife Caitlan and their three children were freed in October in Pakistan. They are pictured above with Canadian PM Justin Trudeau following their release

Boyle andh is wife Caitlan (left) have three children born in captivity – two boys aged 2 and 4 and a baby girl. Boyle is pictured (right) with one of their sons after returning to Canada

The purported acts allegedly occurred after Boyle returned to Canada between October 14 and December 30. 

In a statement to the Toronto Star after his arrest, 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 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.’  

When the family returned to Canada in October, they briefly stayed with Boyle’s parents in Smith’s Falls, Ontario, but have since moved to an apartment in Ottowa. 

Boyle told the Associated Press in October that his wife had been hospitalized in Ottawa, but did not specify why she was taken there. He took a picture of her in her hospital bed at the time. 

Boyle and his wife were abducted in 2012 by a Taliban-linked militant group while on a backpacking trip in Afghanistan

Pakistani troops rescued the family in an operation October 11 aimed at their captors from the Taliban-linked Haqqani group

During their captivity, the couple claimed that their guards forced Caitlan to undergo an abortion and even raped her. 

The group has denied the accusation of sexual assault and the forced abortion, saying instead that Caitlan suffered a miscarriage.  

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.

Caitlan said that they were being moved in a car when they came under fire and were rescued by the Pakistani forces.

Boyle said he was hit by shrapnel in the incident and that the last thing he heard his captors say was ‘kill the hostages’.

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.