Irish nanny detained on murder charge in Boston

Irish nanny Aisling Brady McCarthy was detained without bail after being arraigned at a court near Boston on charges of first-degree murder, assault and battery causing the death of one-year-old Rehma Sabir in January.

Judge Thomas Billings at Middlesex County Superior Court refused to release the Co Cavan woman on bail of $5,000 (€3,800) given the nature of the charges and on the basis that she was a foreign national with international ties.

An emotionally distraught Ms Brady McCarthy, who has lived in the US for about 13 years and worked illegally as a nanny, appeared before a court in the Boston suburb of Woburn in Massachusetts.

The 34-year-old woman, who lives in Quincy, another suburb of Boston, pleaded not guilty to the charges. She spoke just three times during a court hearing that lasted more than an hour.

Asked by a court clerk how she pleaded to the two sets of charges, the 34-year-old Irish woman said, tearfully: “Not guilty.” She hid from view of the public gallery in a defendant’s holding area in the courtroom.

The nanny's defence lawyer Melinda Thompson said that Ms Brady McCarthy was innocent. "This is homicide but the wrong person has been charged with this crime," she told the court.

The prosecution said she was a “flight risk” and that if she requested to return to Ireland the commonwealth of Masschusetts “would be unable to get her back as Ireland does not extradite people over a capital offence. Ms Thompson argued that, if released on bail, her client was willing to wear an electronic GPS bracelet and that she would commit to saying in the country and to “answer these charges.” The judge, however, refused to release her on bail.

The case continues at a pretrial hearing on May 9th.