Ontario court frees Canadian facing charges including sexual assault and making death threats after returning from captivity in Afghanistan

A Canadian former hostage of a Taliban-linked group, charged with sexual assault after returning home from years in captivity in Afghanistan, will be released from a Canadian jail with strict bail conditions.

An Ontario court judge ordered Joshua Boyle to live with his parents in Smith Falls, near Ottawa, and undergo electronic monitoring.

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He was arrested on 31 December only two months after his return to Canada and faces 19 charges, including sexual assault, misleading police and making death threats.

The Ontario Court has banned the identification of Boyle’s alleged victims. According to court documents, the alleged crimes occurred between 14 October – the day Boyle and his family returned to Canada – and 30 December, 2017.

In a previous statement, his American wife Caitlan Coleman blamed Boyle’s actions on his mental state, resulting from “the strain and trauma he was forced to endure for so many years.”

She said it was “with compassion and forgiveness that I … hope help and healing can be found for him.”

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Boyle and Coleman, who married in 2011, were kidnapped by the Taliban during what they described as a backpacking trip through Afghanistan in 2012.

They were later transferred to the custody of the Haqqani faction of the Taliban.

The couple were freed last year, along with their three children aged between six months and five years - all of whom were born in captivity.

A trial date has not been set.