Lawyers for Irish nanny charged in child's death want medical records

WOBURN, Mass. (AP) - Attorneys for an Irish nanny charged in the death of a baby in her care are waiting for reports related to broken bones the child might have suffered weeks before she died.

Aisling Brady McCarthy, of Quincy, is charged with murder and assault and battery on a child in the death of Rehma Sabir (REM'-uh suh-BEHR') in January. The girl was hospitalized on her first birthday with severe head injuries and died two days later.

Last month, McCarthy's lawyer, Melinda Thompson, accused prosecutors of presenting "false and deceptive" information to a grand jury to get a murder indictment against her, including information about bone fractures the girl appeared to suffer two weeks to two months before she died. Thompson said prosecutors offered no evidence linking McCarthy to those injuries.

She said McCarthy spent just 1½ weeks out of the last two months of the girl's life caring for her because her mother took her on two trips outside the country during that time.

During a pretrial hearing Wednesday, Thompson said the defense is waiting for medical reports and radiology reports on the existence of bone fractures.

A hearing is scheduled for Nov. 19 on any remaining requests for evidence to be turned over by prosecutors.

Thompson told the judge she will be ready for McCarthy's trial, now scheduled to begin April 7.

Prosecutors have said that the medical director of the Child Protection Team at Boston Children's Hospital diagnosed the girl as a victim of abusive head trauma, which includes injuries caused by violent shaking and by striking the head or causing the head to strike another object or surface.

The baby's parents told police McCarthy had been their nanny for about six months, caring for the baby while they worked.

Cox Media Group