US woman awoke in Boston hotel to ‘somebody on top' raping her, jury in Dublin firefighter trial told

Irish Times

2 days ago

The Boston woman who claims she was raped by a Dublin firefighter told a US court she woke up in a hotel room to find 'somebody on top of her' raping her.
The 29-year-old attorney testified for a second day in the trial of Terence Crosbie (39) in Suffolk superior courthouse in Boston on Tuesday.
She claimed she was raped by Mr Crosbie, who was visiting the US city with the Dublin Fire Brigade, while his colleague slept in a shared hotel room.
Mr Crosbie (39) was arrested on rape charges over St Patrick's Day weekend last year. He denies the charges and has pleaded not guilty.
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His accuser previously testified to meeting Liam O'Brien at The Black Rose bar on March 14th, 2024.
Mr O'Brien and Mr Crosbie had flown into Boston with their fire brigade colleagues to march in Boston's St Patrick's Day parade.
The complainant testified on Tuesday that she didn't know Mr O'Brien was sharing a room when she returned with him from the bar to the Omni Parker House hotel after an evening of dancing.
She testified that she and Mr O'Brien had consensual sex and then she went to the bathroom.
When she came back from the bathroom, she said Mr O'Brien was asleep 'taking up the majority of the bed' and was snoring loudly, so she slept in the other bed, getting under the covers naked with the bathroom light still on.
She told the court in tears that she 'woke up to somebody on top of me' and they were raping her.
'This person was taller than Liam and was not bald and I could hear Liam snoring,' she said.
The trial had previously heard that Mr O'Brien, unlike Mr Crosbie, was bald. She testified that Mr O'Brien snored 'continuously' throughout the alleged assault.
She testified that the man, later identified as Mr Crosbie, also disparaged Mr O'Brien while assaulting her.
She claimed that while Mr Crosbie was having sex with her, he said: 'I know you want this; [Mr O'Brien] can't even do this for you – what a loser.'
'What are you doing?' she said she asked Mr Crosbie when she realised what was happening.
'I also did say: 'Stop!'' she told the court.
She said she felt Mr Crosbie's weight on top of her and tried to get away, eventually managing to manoeuvre her legs off the side of the bed and break free.
She testified that Mr Crosbie continued to follow her around the hotel room, trying to kiss her. She said she was able to collect her clothes and went to the bathroom.
Mr Crosbie tried to get in and 'was jiggling the handle' after she locked the door, she told the court.
She then left the hotel and texted a friend at 2:18am about the alleged assault
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according to testimony.
'I hate everyone,' she wrote. 'What the f**k is wrong with people.'
She told her friend that she woke up and a guy was having sex with her, 'telling me I wanted it and telling me how pathetic it was that his friend couldn't give that', the court heard.
She then walked home and took an Uber taxi to a hospital.
On cross-examination by Mr Crosbie's defence team, she was asked about her level of intoxication, psychiatric medication and alleged discrepancies in her accounts to medical staff, law enforcement and the grand jury.
Defence attorney Daniel C Reilly asserted that she walked rather than ran out of the hotel, as stated previously.
The woman replied that this was a 'figure of speech'.
Mr Reilly questioned the complainant repeatedly about her accounts of the lighting in the hotel room and noted that her testimony did not include details about the defendant's birthmarks or tattoos.
'But again, you didn't notice any body marks or tattoos,' Mr Reilly said.
'I was trying not to look,' the complainant said.
The trial continues in Boston.