Get all the very latest news in Ireland straight to your email every single day Sign up! Thank you for subscribing See our privacy notice Invalid Email

The Irish nanny accused of murdering a US baby is set to be freed after the charge against her was dramatically dropped last night.

Massachusetts state’s medical examiner reversed its findings and concluded Aisling Brady McCarthy did not kill Rehma Sabir.

Her lawyer Melinda Thompson has revealed the 37-year-old from Cavan “pretty much can’t stop crying out of joy" since receiving the news.

She told the Irish Mirror: “She’s relieved, scared, and absolutely thankful to the medical examiner’s office for redoing this review and quite frankly finding the truth.

“It was a tragedy that a child died of what appeared to be natural causes.”



Ms McCarthy is waiting for her immigration situation to be resolved and is hoping that she’ll be able to return home to Cavan soon.

Reverend Kevin Fay, a priest in Lavey said Aisling's home-town were over-joyed at the dramatic U-turn made by US lawmakers.He said: “It’s fantastic news, just fantastic news. It’s brilliant news.

“We all know the family very well. Everyone will be delighted for them.

“This community have always been very supportive of the family, and I think she comes from a very, very decent family, very good people.

"So there’s a sense of great relief for everybody because people would support Aisling very well here.”

The Cavan nanny, 37, denied harming the one-year-old at the child’s family home in Cambridge near Boston on January 14, 2013.

Her defence solicitor Melinda Thompson said: “The life of an innocent woman was ruined. Ms McCarthy was put in jail for two and a half years over a crime that never occurred. Not just a crime that she did not commit, but a crime that did not occur. The life of an innocent woman was ruined.”

And two-and-a-half years after she was charged and jailed, she looks set to be freed thanks to a dramatic u-turn by the Massachusetts medical examiner’s office.

Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan revealed: “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.”

The announcement came just hours after the medical examiner reversed its original finding that Rehma’s death was murder caused by blunt force trauma to the head.

In his ruling, the examiner said the child’s medical history “could have made her prone to easy bleeding with relatively minor trauma.”

He concluded: “I believe that enough evidence has been presented to raise 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.

“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.

“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.”

(Image: Middlesex District Attorney/PA Wire)

And with McCarthy Brady now set to walk free after the dramatic twist in the case that has gripped Ireland and America, her defence solicitor Melinda Thompson revealed: “Miss McCarthy was put in jail for 2 1/2 years over a crime that never occurred.

“Not just a crime that she did not commit, but a crime that did not occur. The life of an innocent woman was ruined.”

Under Massachusetts law, the medical examiner must conclude that the manner of death was a homicide for a criminal case to start.

The case is scheduled to be heard in Middlesex Superior Court on Wednesday.

McCarthy Brady was arrested in January 2013, five days after little Sabir was pronounced dead at Boston Children’s Hospital, where she was rushed after the nanny found her unresponsive in her cot.

The Cavan childminder, who it emerged had been living illegally in the US since 2002, was denied bail and jailed.

But she was released on $15,000 cash bail by Superior Court Judge Maureen Hogan back in May, after the judge was assured the nanny would be deported if the criminal case against her ended.

Under conditions set by the court, McCarthy Brady was ordered to remain under house arrest at all times and wear a GPS tracking device.

She was forced to surrender her passport and is only allowed to leave her home for court dates, meetings with her legal team and doctor appointments.

The Massachusetts medical examiner’s office originally concluded that Rehma’s death was murder and that the cause of death was “blunt force trauma”.

That finding was influenced by grand jury testimony from Dr Alice Newton, a former Boston Children’s Hospital child protection expert, who said the tragic tot’s death was an example of shaken baby syndrome.

But after pressure from defense medical experts, the medical examiner’s office made the unusual decision to reopen its inquiry.

And after spending the past several months reviewing forensic information, it has now ruled that the baby’s death can no longer be considered a murder.

Prosecutors alleged that Rehma was in McCarthy Brady’s exclusive care when she suffered massive brain injuries consistent with violent shaking, including extensive bleeding in her brain and the backs of her eyes.

Specialists argued the baby had suffered violent force and that the injuries could not have been inflicted before that day.

But defense medical experts noted that the child sustained bone and compression fractures several weeks before her death, when she was traveling abroad with her family without her nanny.

They also said Rehma had been sick for much of her short life and suffered from a bleeding disorder and gastrointestinal problems.

A trial date had been set for October and was expected to last up to six weeks.

The Massachusetts District Attorney was due to meet with tragic Rehma’s family yesterday.