The Irish nanny accused of murdering a one-year-old child in her care in a Boston suburb will be ready to face trial in April, her defence lawyer has told a US court.
Melinda Thompson, who represents 35-year-old Cavan nanny Aisling Brady McCarthy, told Judge S Jane Haggerty in the Middlesex Superior Court near Boston that the defence was awaiting medical and radiology reports on the existence of bone fractures on Rehma Sabir who died two days after being found unresponsive in her cot on January 14th.
Ms Brady McCarthy did not attend a short pre-trial conference at the court in Woburn, Massachusetts.
Her lawyer told the court that the nanny would appear at the next court date on November 19th when discovery issues between the two sides will be discussed.
Ms Thompson said both sides were in agreement on most discovery motions. The judge told them to exchange any documents required for the trial and that any outstanding matters would be addressed at next month’s hearing.
Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald, an assistant district attorney for Middlesex County, said that he hoped that the trial would be able to proceed as scheduled next April.
The judge said she was still considering a motion from the nanny’s lawyers to have the charges dismissed on their claim that 90 per cent of the evidence presented before her indictment was inadmissible.
The Cavan woman has pleaded not guilty to charges of first-degree murder and assault and battery over Rehma’s death. She was minding the child in Rehma’s family apartment in Cambridge near Boston at the time she was found unresponsive. Ms Brady McCarthy was arrested a few days later.
Prosecutors argue that the Irish nanny was the only person who had access to the girl at the time she suffered injuries which included blunt force trauma to the head and bruising to the buttocks.
Lawyers for Ms Brady McCarthy argue that Rehma had travelled internationally with her family and that she suffered fractures between two weeks and two months before her death when the nanny had no access to her.
The Cavan woman has been behind bars since January. Bail has been set in the case at €500,000. Fundraisers have been held to raise money to help with the cost of her legal fees.
