Man accused of raping a girl and throwing her off the I-290 bridge faces trial again

WORCESTER – A man accused of kidnapping, raping and throwing a 7-year-old girl off an Interstate 290 bridge into Lake Quinsigamond in 2017 is scheduled to appear in court next week.

Joshua Hubert – who was charged with rape in December, separate from the other charges – is due to appear in Worcester Superior Court on Wednesday.

Hubert, who maintains his innocence, is accused of aggravated rape, rape of a child, two counts of attempted murder, kidnapping of a child under 16 and strangulation.

Prosecutors allege Hubert was a friend of the girl’s family and attended a barbecue at her grandparents’ house in Worcester on August 26, 2017.

They say he kidnapped the girl early the following morning, put her in his car, sexually assaulted her, strangled her and threw her off the I-290 bridge.

At around 4am on August 27, Shrewsbury Police were called to a house on Lear Street to check on the welfare of the guests.

The girl survived a fall, made it to shore and sought help at a house on the Shrewsbury side of the lake.

Hubert’s attorney, Kevin C. Larson, maintained his client’s innocence and reiterated this in a statement on Friday.

“The longer this case went on, the more outrageous the allegations became,” Larson wrote. “The actual evidence in this case does not support these allegations.”

“After the evidence has been presented to the jury at trial, we are confident that Mr. Hubert will be found not guilty. (He) is innocent.”

According to court records, no substantive motions have been filed in Hubert’s cases since he was charged with child rape in December.

The hearing scheduled for Wednesday is a “compliance hearing” where attorneys generally discuss whether pretrial disclosure requirements have been met and sometimes set a trial date.

Hubert is free on $50,000 bail, with conditions including wearing a GPS surveillance camera and staying away from the alleged victim.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Joshua Hubert, accused of throwing girl from I-290 bridge, update