Nolle prosequi in cavan nanny case
Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan has announced the Commonwealth filed a 'Nolle Prosequi' today in the case of Aisling Brady McCarthy, 37, of Quincy who was indicted by a Middlesex County Grand Jury on a charge of murder in connection with the death of an infant in Cambridge in 2013.
'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,” said District Attorney Ryan.
The Medical Examiner’s amended ruling states: “After review of additional materials including expert witness reports from the defense and prosecution, additional transcripts of police interviews, transcripts of grand jury testimony, additional medical records, DCF reports, and additional laboratory testing related to the death of Rehma Sabir (OCME 2013-878), a decision has been made to change the cause and manner of death.
The prosecution will now not go forward on a charge of murder.
Timeline:
On January 14, 2013, at approximately 4:41 p.m., the Cambridge Police Department responded to Ash Street regarding an unresponsive infant, whereupon a one year old child was found to be breathing but unconscious. The child, who was with her nanny at the time, Aisling Brady Mc Carthy, was transported to Children's Hospital in Boston where she was found to be suffering from subdural and retinal hemorrhaging, and cerebral swelling.
On January 16, 2013, the child, Rehma Sabir, was declared brain dead.
The Medical Examiner conducted an autopsy and ruled that the cause of death was complicatiions of blunt force head injuries, and the manner of death was homicide.
On April 12, 2013 an indictment was handed down by a Middlesex County Grand Jury charging Aisling Brady Mc Carthy with the death of the child and on April 18, Mc Carthy was arraigned in Middlesex Superior Court.
On August 27, 2015, the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office was informed that the Medical Examiner who conducted the autopsy was issuing an amended ruling changing the cause and manner of death.
The Medical Examiner has amended the cause of death on the death certificate to “complications of subdural hemorrhage of uncertain etiology” and has amended the manner of death to “undetermined.”