OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) – Canadian Joshua Boyle, his American wife and their children endured a long captivity in Afghanistan before they were rescued last fall and returned to Canada. Now he’s facing 15 charges including sexual assault, forcible confinement and administering a noxious drug.
Boyle, his wife Caitlan and their three children were freed in 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 born in captivity.
Court documents obtained Tuesday say the charges include eight counts of assault, two accounts of sexual assault, two counts of unlawful confinement and one count of causing someone to “take a noxious thing, namely Trazodone,” an antidepressant. There is also a charge of uttering a death threat and a charge of misleading a police officer. The purported acts allegedly occurred between Oct. 14 and Dec. 30 after Boyle returned to Canada.
A publication ban bars reporting any information that could identify the alleged victims.
A hearing on the case was scheduled for Wednesday in Ottawa, but Boyle’s lawyer told The Associated Press that Boyle would not attend in person. He said Boyle was in custody.