Murder charge dropped for Irish nanny after baby’s death ruled not to be a homicide
More than two years after the death of a one-year-old Cambridge baby in her care led to charges of assault and murder, Irish nanny Aisling Brady McCarthy is set to be cleared of charges.
Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan filed to drop the first-degree murder charge against McCarthy on Monday after the state medical examiner’s office ruled that the baby, Rehma Sabir, died of “undetermined’’ causes.
That’s a sharp reversal of the earlier medical examiner’s autopsy , which declared that the baby’s death was a homicide caused by complications from blunt force head injuries. Spurred by that analysis, McCarthy was indicted on first-degree murder charges in April of 2013.
McCarthy’s defense had called for a review of the medical reports in the case, citing the baby’s medical history and previous injuries incurred when McCarthy was not taking care of her. On Monday, the medical examiner’s office said that it could no longer be certain that Sabir’s death was a homicide.
“In particular the overall state of Rehma’s health and her past medical issues raise the possibility that she had some type of disorder that was not able to be completely diagnosed prior to her death,’’ the medical examiner’s office said. “Given these uncertainties, I am no longer convinced that the subdural hemorrhage in this case could only have been caused by abusive/inflicted head trauma, and I can no longer rule the manner of death as a homicide.’’
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