Aisling Brady McCarthy is an

Irishwoman The Irish ( ga, Muintir na hÉireann or ''Na hÉireannaigh'') are an ethnic group and nation native to the island of Ireland, who share a common history and culture. There have been humans in Ireland for about 33,000 years, and it has been c ...

who, at age 34 in April 2013, was charged with the

first-degree murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification or valid excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person without justification or excuse, especially the c ...

of a 1-year-old girl, Rehma Sabir, in Middlesex County, Massachusetts. Brady McCarthy had been the child's nanny for the previous six months, and had been unlawfully in the United States since 2002, living in the

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

area. Her case and subsequent trial received international attention, and similarities were drawn with the case of Louise Woodward, a 19-year-old British nanny who was convicted of

involuntary manslaughter Manslaughter is a common law legal term for homicide considered by law as less culpable than murder. The distinction between murder and manslaughter is sometimes said to have first been made by the ancient Athenian lawmaker Draco in the 7th c ...

after an eight-month-old child in her care died from a fractured skull and subdural hematoma in 1997. The charges against Brady McCarthy were dropped two years later, after it was determined that there was insufficient evidence to conclude that the child was murdered.

The incident

On the afternoon of 14 January 2013, police in

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston, ...

, responded to an emergency call reporting an unresponsive child. The baby was found breathing but unconscious, and was transported to Boston Children's Hospital and diagnosed with subdural and retinal hemorrhaging and cerebral swelling. The child was pronounced brain dead on 16 January, her first birthday.

Accusation and proceedings

Brady McCarthy was charged with

assault An assault is the act of committing physical harm or unwanted physical contact upon a person or, in some specific legal definitions, a threat or attempt to commit such an action. It is both a crime and a tort and, therefore, may result in crim ...

and

battery Battery most often refers to: * Electric battery, a device that provides electrical power * Battery (crime), a crime involving unlawful physical contact Battery may also refer to: Energy source *Automotive battery, a device to provide power t ...

, and then also charged with

. Several aspects of the charges against Brady McCarthy led to calls for a further review of the evidence. It was revealed that the prosecution had withheld potentially important evidence in the case, and there was a call for additional study by the medical examiner. An eye specialist consulted by the prosecution had indicated that rather than being the result of blunt force trauma, the child's symptoms could have been the result of an

immune disorder An immune disorder is a dysfunction of the immune system. These disorders can be characterized in several different ways: * By the component(s) of the immune system affected * By whether the immune system is overactive or underactive * By whether t ...

known as

Job's syndrome Hyperimmunoglobulinemia E syndrome (HIES), of which the autosomal dominant form is called Job's syndrome or Buckley syndrome, is a heterogeneous group of immune disorders. Job's is also very rare at about 300 cases currently in the literature. P ...

. The child had a history of often being sick, and had pre-existing bone fractures in her spine dating from a time several weeks before her death when she had been taken on a family vacation and had not been in the care of the nanny. In April 2015, the medical examiner rescinded the prior conclusion that the child's death had been a

homicide Homicide occurs when a person kills another person. A homicide requires only a volitional act or omission that causes the death of another, and thus a homicide may result from accidental, reckless, or negligent acts even if there is no inten ...

caused by violent shaking, saying that "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", noting that the child had a history of bruising, thus raising "the possibility that the bleeding could have been related to an accidental injury in a child with a bleeding risk or possibly could have even been a result of an undefined natural disease". On 1 September 2015, after Brady McCarthy had been held for 27 months in jail, and a further 3 months under

House Arrest In justice and law, house arrest (also called home confinement, home detention, or, in modern times, electronic monitoring) is a measure by which a person is confined by the authorities to their residence. Travel is usually restricted, if all ...

in Massachusetts, all charges against her were dropped. The

District Attorney In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or state attorney is the chief prosecutor and/or chief law enforcement officer representing a U.S. state in a l ...

for Middlesex County, Marian Ryan said: "Based on an assessment of the present state of the evidence, including the amended ruling from the medical examiner who performed the autopsy, the Commonwealth cannot meet its burden of proof." Brady McCarthy had been in the United States unlawfully since 2002 after overstaying a visa, and she was then arrested by U.S. immigration authorities, who allowed her to return on her own to Ireland in lieu of her potential deportation. In 2016, the child's parents, who had filed a civil suit with a wrongful death claim against Brady McCarthy, were awarded 4 million (€3.6 million) in damages by a U.S. court. However, the family said they did not plan to press for payment of the judgment unless Brady McCarthy tried to profit from the media attention about the incident.

Life after the incident

Brady McCarthy lives in Ireland with her husband, a fellow Irishman she married while living in the United States in September 2012, four months before the child's death.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McCarthy, Aisling Brady Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Irish expatriates in the United States Nannies Irish domestic workers Irish people imprisoned abroad Irish prisoners and detainees People charged with murder Prisoners and detainees of Massachusetts