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Irish nanny slams US prosecutors as "scandalous"

Former nanny Aisling Brady McCarthy has returned home to Ireland after spending two-and-a half years with murder charges hanging over her
Former nanny Aisling Brady McCarthy has returned home to Ireland after spending two-and-a half years with murder charges hanging over her Former nanny Aisling Brady McCarthy has returned home to Ireland after spending two-and-a half years with murder charges hanging over her

THE Irish woman, who spent more than two years in a Massachusetts prison after being wrongly accused of murdering a baby, has described her treatment by US prosecutors as “scandalous”.

Cavan-born Aisling Brady McCarthy (37) yesterday arrived back at Shannon Airport yesterday morning after her surprise deportation from the US just two days after Middlesex prosecutors dropped first degree murder charges against her.

The former nanny, whose family is well-known in Lavey, had been under house arrest for four months after spending two years in the notorious MCI Framingham after her January 2013 arrest for the murder of one-year-old Rehma Sabir.

The baby died two days after being admitted to a Boston hospital when she became ill on her first birthday at her home in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

The office of the chief medical examiner initially conducted a post mortem examination and ruled that the child had suffered blunt force head injuries and that the cause of her death was “homicide and not accidental”.

However, a recent review of the medical evidence found that the overall state of Rehma's health and her past medical issues raised the possibility that she had an undiagnosed disorder that caused “easy bleeding”.

Medical examiner Dr Katherine Lindstrom’s new findings led to prosecutors dropping the charges against Ms Brady McCarthy, but the Cavan woman still faced deportation after having illegally remained in the US after her tourist visa expired in 2002.

Prior to departing the US, Ms Brady McCarthy told the Boston Herald that she had been left “overwhelmed” by recent “crazy and hectic” events and that she could not wait to return home to Ireland to resume her life.

Describing the time since her initial arrest as her “worst nightmare”, she slammed the actions of the Middlesex prosecutors as “scandalous”, saying they should be “ashamed” for immediately deciding that she was responsible for Rehma’s death.

Ms Brady McCarthy insisted she had loved her young charge, whom she had looked after 10 hours a day for five days a week over a six month period.

She also revealed that while in prison, she had received constant support from her family but also from the parents of other children that she had looked after while in America.

The community in Lavey, where her widowed mother Margaret still lives, had rallied around the Brady family following the nanny’s arrest, and held a series of fundraising events to help pay her legal bills.