Irish nanny on assault charge

A 34-year-old Irish nanny living near Boston has been accused of fatally injuring a baby in her care on the infant’s first birthday.

Aisling McCarthy Brady, originally from Co Cavan but understood to have been living in the US for more than 10 years, pleaded not guilty yesterday in Cambridge District Court in Massachusetts to a charge of assault and battery. She was released on $500,000 (€376,000) bail.

The charge is expected to be upgraded to murder when the state medical examiner’s office completes its autopsy, assistant district attorney for Middlesex County Katherine Folger told the court.

Prosecutors say police in Cambridge arrived at a house on January 14th to find an infant who was breathing but unconscious.

The child was brought to the Children’s Hospital in Boston where she was found to be suffering from subdural and retinal haemorrhaging and cerebral swelling.

The infant, named as Rehma Sabir, was pronounced brain dead on January 16th and subsequently died. Ms McCarthy Brady was arrested on Monday and charged.

The district attorney said Ms McCarthy Brady had “sole custody of and contact with the child during the time that she sustained injuries consistent with abusive head trauma”.

A spokesman for the Irish Embassy in Washington said the Department of Foreign Affairs was aware of the case.

Ms McCarthy Brady is due in court on February 22nd.