"A Massachusetts court has found Irish nanny Aisling Brady McCarthy civilly liable for the death of a one-year-old baby left in her care. Rehma Sabir (1) died in January 2013 after she was found unconscious in her cot while the Irish nanny was looking after her at the family home in Cambridge, Massachusetts. According to Middlesex County civil court records, Cavan native Brady McCarthy was served with the lawsuit on July 8 but did not “file an appearance, answer,” or issue any other “responsive pleading”. The “default ruling” entered by a clerk in the Middlesex Superior Court triggers the scheduling of a court hearing to determine damages, according to Martha Coakley, an attorney for the parents of the deceased infant. “The court will either set a date or we will request a date some time in the fall for the entry of a default judgement,” Ms Coakley said in a telephone interview on Friday. Rehma’s parents claimed in the civil lawsuit that the baby died due to Brady McCarthy’s “negligent, malicious, willful, wonton, reckless and/or grossly negligent acts”.
Prosecutors claimed that bruises
to Rehma’s head, damage to her eyes, brain swelling, and other forensic
evidence showed that she was killed by blunt trauma to the head and
violent shaking.
However, Brady McCarthy’s defence team offered alternative causes for
the infant’s death, such as an uncommon bleeding disorder or an immune
deficiency issue. Brady McCarthy repeatedly denied harming the
child and was indicted on murder charges three years ago in a case that
received global attention, but the charges were dropped last year and
she was deported back to Ireland from the US, where she had been living
illegally..."
