WORCESTER ― A man accused of kidnapping a 7-year-old girl, raping her and throwing her from an Interstate 290 bridge into Lake Quinsigamond in 2017 is slated to make a court appearance next week.
Joshua Hubert – who was charged with rape separately from the other charges through an indictment in December – is due in Worcester Superior Court on Wednesday.
Hubert, who maintains his innocence, faces charges of aggravated rape, child rape, two counts of attempted murder, and single counts of kidnapping a child under 16 and strangulation.
Prosecutors have alleged Hubert was a friend of the girl’s family and was at a cookout Aug. 26, 2017, at her grandparents' home in Worcester.
They say he abducted the girl early the following morning, put her in his car, sexually assaulted her, strangled her and threw her from the I-290 bridge.
Around 4 a.m. Aug. 27, Shrewsbury police were called to a home on Lear Street for a well-being check.
The girl had survived a fall , made her way to shore and sought help at a house on the Shrewsbury side of the lake.
Hubert’s lawyer, Kevin C. Larson, has maintained his client’s innocence, and did so again in a statement Friday.
“The longer this case has gone on, the more outrageous the allegations have become,” Larson wrote. “The actual evidence in this case does not support these allegations.
“After the evidence is presented to the jury at trial, we are confident Mr. Hubert will be found not guilty. (He) is innocent.”
Court records show that no substantive motions have been filed in Hubert’s cases since his arraignment on the child rape charges in December.
The hearing scheduled Wednesday is a “compliance” hearing, at which lawyers generally discuss whether pretrial discovery obligations have been met, and sometimes set a trial date.
Hubert is out on $50,000 bail on conditions that include wearing a GPS monitor and staying away from the alleged victim.
This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Man accused of raping girl and throwing her off I-290 bridge due back in court
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