Aisling Brady McCarthy Indicted In Baby Murder

Aisling Brady McCarthy, the Irish nanny accused of killing a baby in Massachusetts, was indicted Friday on charges of first-degree murder, as well as assault and battery.

On Jan. 14, the mother allegedly returned home, where she’d left the baby with the nanny, to find the child unresponsive. She called 911, but tiny Rehma Sabir died two days later.

Sadly, the day Rehma was beaten was her first, and only, birthday.

According to the District Attorney’s office, the cause of death was consistent with “abusive head trauma.” The nanny was reportedly alone with the child, although a neighbor admitted to becoming concerned because they could hear what they described as “extreme” crying.

Accused baby killer Aisling Brady McCarthy was arrested on $500,000 bail and has been in jail ever since.

However, that hasn’t stopped her attorney Melinda Thompson from pointing fingers at parents Sabir Sameer, 34, a British banker, and his wife Nada Siddiqui. Thompson has said that there’s evidence of previous healed fractures dating back to a trip to London, when McCarthy wasn’t present.

Thompson has also alleged that the baby returned “malnourished” from overseas travel to Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and London. A judge agreed in February that all records pertaining to the baby’s international travel going back to June 2012 must be preserved — including who else traveled with little Rehma and whether she got other medical treatment.

Unfortunately for McCarthy’s case, she has a rather checkered legal history. In 2002, she entered the United States on a 90-day tourist visa and simply stayed illegally after it expired. A tourist visa doesn’t allow a visitor to work as a nanny or in any other job.

Worse, according to a Boston report, she has a terrible temper, and multiple restraining orders have been lodged against her. In 2005, she was accused of attacking an ex-boyfriend in a bar. In 2007, she was accused of assaulting a female roommate.

While no parent deserves to lose a child, I have to admit that I’m perplexed that a well-to-do family would hire an undocumented immigrant with a couple of assault arrests on her record to be a nanny. What do you think of the Aisling Brady McCarthy case?

[abandoned baby toy photo by Parenting Patch via Wikipedia Commons]