LAWYER QUESTIONS GIRL’S KIDNAP, CHOKING STORY
Attempted slay charge brings bail up to $2M
The lawyer for a man accused of kidnapping a 7-year-old girl, choking her, and throwing her off a bridge into Lake Quinsigamond is questioning the little girl’s account, with his client now held on $2 million bail after a second arraignment.
“There’s something very strange about what the girl says happened,” defense attorney Richard Welsh Jr. said outside the courthouse. “She’s 7 years old, I understand it was traumatic situation, so is there some inaccuracies in her version? I’m sure there are, that’s just the nature of it. I am not saying she is outright lying, but there are certainly going to be inaccuracies.”
Joshua Hubert, 35, was ordered held on $1 million bail — an amount agreed to by both Welsh and Worcester County prosecutors. A not guilty plea was entered on his behalf during a brief proceeding yesterday in Westboro District Court. Hubert faces a single charge of attempted murder in Westboro, and a separate $1 million bail was set at a prior arraignment for kidnapping in Worcester District Court. The cases will likely be joined following a Superior Court indictment, which Welsh said will happen before his client is due back in court Oct. 25.
Voicing doubt in the girl’s account, Welsh said, “This is a girl that says she was thrown over the side of a bridge and there are no injuries consistent with that. At the same time, she shows up at this lady’s house at 4 in the morning soaking wet, something clearly happened. She did have serious choking marks, so I don’t dispute something happened to this child, my issue is my client didn’t do it.”
Prosecutors say the little girl swam more than 100 yards to safety and knocked on the door of a Shrewsbury home around 4 a.m. on Aug. 27. They say Hubert had taken her from a family gathering, choked her, and threw her off a bridge on the Shrewsbury side of Interstate 290. Prosecutors have said the girl’s injuries support her account of what happened.
Several of the girl’s family members sat in the back row of the courtroom and declined to comment to reporters after the hearing.
Welsh said his client is “struggling” behind bars.
“He’s a guy with no criminal record that’s thrown into a jail situation, so obviously he is not doing well,” the lawyer said. “But he understands these charges are very serious and, until we can get to the bottom of it, he’s not going anywhere, unfortunately.”