Irish nanny to face April trial over baby's death
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Irish nanny to face April trial over baby's death

AN Irish nanny accused of murdering a one-year-old child in her care  will be ready to face trial in April; her lawyer has told a US court.

Aisling Brady McCarthy's defence team are awaiting medical and radiology reports from the District Attorney on the existence of bone fractures on the infant, Middlesex Superior Court, near Boston, heard yesterday.

The Cavan nanny did not attend the brief pre-trial hearing at the court in Woburn, Massachusetts.

Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald, an assistant district attorney, said that he was hopeful the trial would proceed as scheduled next April.

Judge S Jane Haggerty stressed that both sides should "just exchange what you need to exchange" so the trial would remain "on track" and as scheduled.

She also said that a motion put forward by the defence that the prosecutors presented inadmissable evidence to the jury before the nanny's indictment was still being considered.

Brady McCarthy denies murdering Rehma Sabir and pleaded not guilty to charges of first-degree murder and assault and battery.

The baby was found by police breathing but unresponsive on January 14 and died two days later after being pronounced brain dead.

She had been celebrating her first birthday in the 35-year-old nanny’s care after her parents left for work that morning.

Prosecutors argue that Brady McCarthy was the only person who had access to the child at the time she sustained her injuries, which included blunt force trauma to the head and bruising to the buttocks.

Defence lawyers argue that the little girl and her family had travelled abroad and that she suffered fractures between two weeks and two months prior to her death during which the Irish nanny did not have access to her.

Brady McCarthy has been in prison since January, and bail has been set in the case at €500,000.