Nanny accused of assaulting infant who later died

By Travis Andersen , Globe Staff

A nanny who lives in Quincy was arrested tonight on a charge of assaulting a 1-year-old girl in her care in Cambridge who later died, and more charges are expected, the Middlesex district attorney’s office said.

Aisling McCarthy Brady, 34, is accused of violently assaulting the child last week at a home in Cambridge and inflicting severe head injuries, District Attorney Gerard T. Leone Jr.’s office said in a statement.

The child, whom authorities did not identify, died at Boston Children’s Hospital two days after the alleged assault.

“This is an extremely troubling case, where we allege the defendant violently assaulted a one-year-old child, causing a devastating head injury and broken bones,” Leone said in the statement. “Children are our most vulnerable victims and where, as here, the offender has been entrusted with the care of a child who depends on them, the allegations are all the more egregious.”

According to prosecutors, Cambridge police responded at about 4:45 p.m. last Monday to a home on Ash Street, where the infant was breathing but unconscious. She was taken to the hospital and “found to be suffering from subdural and retinal hemorrhaging, and cerebral swelling. She was also observed to have multiple healing bone fractures,” the statement said.

Authorities determined that Brady had sole custody of the girl that afternoon and that her injuries were consistent with abusive head trauma, according to Leone’s office.

Prosecutors said that Brady will probably face more charges when the final report by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner is concluded.

For now, Brady is scheduled to be arraigned tomorrow in Cambridge District Court on a charge of assault and battery on a child causing substantial bodily injury, the statement said.