The Dublin firefighter charged with rape over St Patrick’s Day weekend did a “terrible, terrible thing to another person simply because he wanted to and he thought he could”, a Boston court heard.
Terence Crosbie (39) denies ever touching the 29-year-old attorney, claiming that when he returned to the hotel room he shared with his colleague, Liam O’Brien, shortly before 2am on March 15th, 2014, his bed was empty and the room was dark.
Both the complainant and Mr Crosbie took the stand, bookending the five-day trial in Boston.
In closing arguments on Wednesday, the prosecution and defence presented differing accounts of what they insist occurred at the Omni Parker Hotel in the 20-minute period in which Mr Crosbie, Mr O’Brien and the complainant were together in room 610.
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The attorney claims she met Mr O’Brien at The Black Rose bar, went to the hotel with him, had consensual sex, and she then went to the bathroom, leaving the bathroom light on for the duration of her stay. She told the court that when Mr O’Brien fell asleep and began to snore, she went to sleep in the other bed, unaware that Mr O’Brien, who had travelled to Boston with a group of more than 10 Dublin fire-brigade members to march in the St Patrick’s Day Parade, was sharing a room.
She said she awoke to an Irish man she did not know actively raping her, telling her she wanted it, and calling his “friend”, Mr O’Brien, a “loser”, while the latter continued to snore.
Mr Crosbie’s defence attorney, Daniel C Reilly, told the court the state wants jurors to believe that no one would want to put themselves through the ordeal of filing a complaint and testifying “if it didn’t happen”.
“It’s not that simple,” Mr Reilly said.
Because Mr O’Brien was “supposedly asleep” and “refused to testify”, Mr Reilly told jurors that they had to rely on the complainant’s word versus Mr Crosbie to reach their unanimous decision, adding that proof beyond reasonable doubt was a high bar that the state had not met.
Mr Reilly argued that, due to intoxication and “other factors” the complainant is a “less than reliable reporter”.
CCTV video revealed Mr Crosbie, a married father of two, to be kissing a woman at The Black Rose prior to the assault. On the stand Mr Crosbie testified the unidentified woman invited him home, but he declined the invitation.
“He could have gone home with the woman he met at The Black Rose,” Mr Reilly told the court, arguing that the state’s allegation that Mr Crosbie was “on the prowl for sex” does not check out.
Mr Reilly noted the identities of the male DNA contributors collected from inside the complainant’s genitalia could not be determined, and that instances of secondary DNA transfer or sample contamination are known to occur.
[ ‘I didn’t touch her’: Dublin firefighter charged with rape in Boston takes standOpens in new window ]
Mr Reilly reminded jurors that the complainant did not remember Mr O’Brien’s name, what he was wearing, could not remember Mr Crosbie being in the room briefly, before she had sex with Mr O’Brien, and did not remember Mr Crosbie having tattoos, or that he was significantly taller than herself.
He also questioned the complainant’s retelling of what happened, first texted to a friend moments after she left the hotel, in which she attributed the words “friend” and “loser” to Mr Crosbie, words Mr Crosbie testified are not part of the Irish lexicon.
He also questioned why the complainant did not turn to the hotel staff for help. “These are all reasons to question [the complainant’s] story,” he said.
Countering the defence’s argument, assistant district attorney Erin Murphy argued Mr Crosbie was not “the unluckiest man in the whole world”. The evidence “leads right to him because he’s guilty,” she said.
She noted that hours after Mr Crosbie landed in Boston, he was “already in a bar kissing a woman” who is not his wife. “Do you really credit that the defendant, ever the gentleman, politely declined her invitation to go home?” Ms Murphy said.
The complainant did not “drunkenly fabricate” a “very detailed” account of rape. “If she was so unreliable, if she was so impaired, then how would she get so much right?” Ms Murphy asked.
She noted the DNA evidence was consistent with the complainant’s account of having consensual sex prior to being assaulted, and hotel records that showed Mr Crosbie entering the room 20 minutes before she left is also consistent with her account of being woken up to an assault. She also noted medical experts found the complainant had a vaginal tear.
The details the complainant got wrong regarding tattoos, names and height, were not “meaningful inconsistencies,” Ms Murphy said.
When Mr Crosbie was questioned the next day by police he tried to “fish around for information” for what the complainant had disclosed regarding the rape, asking if she told police she had been “pinned down” in the bed, consistent to what the complaint claimed had in fact happened, Ms Murphy said.
Police “hadn’t shared any information” so how does he guess “the exact method in the exact place?” Ms Murphy asked.
She also questioned why Mr Crosbie told police he had masturbated in his bed the previous morning, calling the account a “bizarre story” made up to explain why his DNA might be on the victim.
She argued Mr Crosbie tried to leave the country on an early flight because he had been “caught red-handed”, not because he was scared someone tampered with his room.
