Canadian ex-Afghan captive fit to stand trial, needs treatment

OTTAWA: A Canadian former hostage who has been charged with sexual assault, misleading police and making death threats after returning home from years in captivity in Afghanistan is fit to stand trial, a court heard Friday.

Joshua Boyle, 34, however, will be transferred from prison to a secure mental health facility for further assessment and psychiatric treatment.

Four additional charges against him were revealed Friday, including assault with a weapon and criminal harassment, bringing the total to 19.

"He's been seen by a forensic psychiatrist who was of the view that he would benefit from an assessment as an in-patient at a psychiatric facility," Boyle's lawyer Lawrence Greenspon said outside the Ottawa courthouse.

"The judge made that order at our request, with the Crown's consent, and he will spend up to 60 days being assessed psychiatrically," he said.

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

Boyle has been in custody since his arrest on New Year's Day. His appearance in court via videolink on Friday was brief.

He is scheduled to return to court on March 26.

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."

Greenspon said Boyle "has been through five years as a hostage and it should be no surprise to anybody that as a result of that it has affected his mental health."

His further assessment under Section 22 of the Ontario Mental Health Act will seek "to determine the nature of his mental health challenges and any possible treatment," he said.

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