A Canadian man recently freed with his wife and young children after they were held hostage for years in Afghanistan has made a brief court appearance in connection with a number of charges, including sexual assault.
Joshua Boyle appeared via video link before Justice Norman Boxall and the matter was adjourned until Monday.
Boyle, 34, was arrested in Ottawa and court documents say he faces 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, namely Trazodone," an antidepressant.
There is also a charge of uttering a death threat and another of misleading a police officer. A publication ban prohibits the disclosure of details that could identify the victims.
The acts allegedly occurred between Oct. 14 and Dec. 30 after Boyle returned to Canada from his Afghan captivity.
Boyle and his American wife, Caitlan Coleman, were taken hostage in 2012 by a Taliban-linked group while on a backpacking trip in Afghanistan. Coleman was pregnant at the time and the couple had three children in captivity.