Canadian ex-Afghan captive remains jailed awaiting hearing

OTTAWA: A Canadian who was charged with sexual assault and making death threats after returning to Canada from captivity in Afghanistan will remain in custody after his bail hearing was postponed Monday.

Joshua Boyle, 34, briefly appeared in court via video link from prison in Ottawa wearing an orange jumpsuit, having been formally charged on January 3.

He is scheduled to reappear in court on January 26.

Boyle faces 15 charges including sexual assault, assault and and illegal confinement.

He was also charged with uttering death threats, misleading police, and causing a person to take a "noxious substance."

The court has banned the identification of the alleged victims of the charges, which occurred between October 14 -- the day Boyle and his family returned to Canada -- and December 30.

Boyle was arrested and detained on January 1.

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."

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.

They were freed in October 2017, along with their three children aged between six months and five years -- all of whom were born in captivity.