Taliban captive -rape charges

[cuirderussie]

www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jan/03/joshua-boyle-freed-taliban-hostage-arrested-for-sexual-assault

Doesn't this look like his victim was his wife? He seemed like a controlling abuser in the interviews he did. Poor woman, I hope she and her kids will be ok.

On that one my instinct has always been considerable sympathy for the woman. If at some point she feels free to tell her story I'd expect it to be absolutely horrific.

I watched the interviews when the family returned and thought there was something incredibly off about him and his responses, and his account of what had happened. His poor wife and family.

I thought the same Prickly. Odd man, odd presentation in interviews.

I didn't watch the interviews, but I did think it really strange that you would be having children whilst imprisoned - the only thing I could think was that if it's more like house arrest then perhaps you would just get on with your life - but it just seems like a very dangerous, and odd choice to make, to bring children into it. If this is as suspected, then it all becomes somewhat clearer though.

Didn't he say they kept having children as her biological clock was ticking and they 'always wanted a large family' I found this at the time. This is something you consider when you are settled and free. Not something you consider when in captivity.

I also remember her saying she had lived a 'kafkaesque nightmare'. I can now see this went deeper than her captors.

This is tragic

The charges are all in relation to the time period since he was released.

6 assaults, 2 sexual assaults, false imprisonment, death threats, forcibly administering anti depressants...

We need to be careful what we say as it's a live legal case but anyone charged with that lot in under a three month period sounds charming.

Wouldn't it be more difficult to prosecute crimes that happened in Afghanistan though, so maybe the recent ones are just the tip of a huge iceberg. I did think that no normal caring man would put his wife through constant pregnancy in that kind of awful environment.

She then had at least 2 subsequent children whilst in Afghanistan, so she was put through almost constant pregnancy whilst there.

She was already pregnant when captured.

Ah, yes, well.. that speaks to something too doesn't it? I mean, I moved country twice when pregnant with my first, and was adamant that I was going to be having a home birth in a not entirely modern country (! Thank God not, since that's not how it went in the end) - DP, whilst respecting my wishes and supporting me, was pretty against that whole idea if he was honest, and he certainly wouldn't have gone back-packing with me in a war zone!

I suspect that one of the victims (apparently there were two) was his wife. She has subsequently said that she hopes he 'gets the help he needs'. I also wonder if there were issues with his parents as that's where they were initially staying and given how traumatised his children were moving home so soon seemed surprising. Her parents were pretty angry with him for getting her into the situation at all, and I note reports that say they were with their daughter when Boyle was arrested. The whole story has been a bit strange including his apparent refusal to fly the family to America. That said whatever happened both before and after their captivity I expect it was highly traumatic. I hope that the children get to recover and have a normal childhood.

This is a man who actively put his pregnant wife into a dangerous and unstable situation. Goodness knows what else is going to come out. I don't like to speculate because of the ongoing investigation.

I do wonder what Justin Trudeau is going to say about it, having met the family after their release.

Something always struck me as strange about this case. This unfortunate news isn't surprising to me.

Listening to the reports and his comments, I always had the sense that them being held captive worked far better for him than for her.