Dublin firefighter found guilty of raping American woman in Boston
Sarah Slater
Dublin firefighter Terence Crosbie has been found guilty of raping a woman in a Boston hotel.
The 38-year-old was visiting the US with Irish colleagues to participate in St Patrick’s Day celebrations when the incident took place.
The jury deliberated for three days before reaching a unanimous verdict
Crosbie has been in custody for 18 months and was accused of raping an American woman at the Omni Parker House hotel in downtown Boston after celebrating at the Black Rose bar on March 14th, 2024. He pleaded not guilty.
Last June his court hearing, which ended in a mistrial.
Crosbie had flown to Boston from Ireland on the same day, March 15th last year and that he was scheduled to leave the following Tuesday, March 18th.
Daniel Reilly who delivered closing arguments for the defense last Wednesday emphasised Crosbie’s innocence and pointed to “reasonable doubt” in the case, in the form of no video or audio of the alleged attack and the “lack of” conclusive DNA evidence.
Mr Reilly said that his client’s testimony declaring himself “innocent” constitutes reasonable doubt and that the alleged victim’s blood sample from the hospital Emergency Department she went to established that she was “inebriated”.
Erin Murphy, who delivered closing arguments for the prosecution, asked the jury to convict Mr Crosbie.
Ms Murphy said the alleged victim had “no reason to lie” and gave a “detailed account of a stranger raping” her.
She pointed out that Mr Crosbie exploited his colleague Liam O'Brien's "oblivion" whom he was sharing a room with after drinking to take advantage of the victim.
Doctors and nurses who interacted with the victim found her to be “clinically sober” with no evidence of intoxication. Ms Murphy noted that the defendant was the only other man in the room, there was no other activity in that room (from key use records) around that time period.
She highlighted that the accused left early for Logan Airport early because he knew he was caught.
Crosbie is due to be sentenced on October 30th.
Mr Crosbie has been in custody on a $50,000 bail at the Suffolk County Jail since his arrest.
