Nearly a decade ago, a 7-year-old girl showed up on a stranger’s porch in Shrewsbury at 4 in the morning, soaked in her pajamas and covered in bruises. She said she’d just been thrown off a bridge by her “friend Josh.”

Now, the man she named — Joshua Hubert , of Worcester — is finally on trial, accused of the kidnapping, rape and attempted murder of the child.

Hubert is charged with forcible child rape, child rape aggravated by age, two counts of attempted murder and a single count each of kidnapping a child under 16 and strangulation, across multiple indictments in connection with the 2017 incident.

This trial will combine all of Hubert’s indictments into one case. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges, and his lawyer has continued to maintain his client’s innocence.

The fir

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