Dublin firefighter's DNA not identified conclusively in Boston rape case

Extra.ie​

14-06-2025

The DNA of Dublin firefighter Terence Crosbie was not conclusively identified on the woman he is accused of raping last year, Mr Crosbie's Boston trial heard on Thursday.
Two DNA experts took to the stand on the fourth day of the rape trial stating that the 39-year-old's genetic material was not found on his alleged victim when she went to hospital, according to reports in the Boston Globe.
Mr Crosbie was visiting Boston with the Dublin Fire Brigade to take part in the 2024 St Patrick's Day parade and is alleged to have raped a 29-year-old lawyer while his colleague slept in the same hotel room. He has pleaded not guilty. Terence Crosbie.
'Your testing did not identify Terence Crosbie on the genital swab?' defence attorney Patrick Garrity asked an expert on DNA analysis, the Boston Globe said.
The DNA analyst replied: 'It did not identify that individual on the genital swab, correct.'
The analyst, Alexis DeCesaris, testified that while DNA from two males was found in the woman's genital swab, the amount was too small to compare to a person's genetic profile. Pic: Omni Parker House
During her testimony, the woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, stated that she had met Mr Crosbie's fellow firefighter Liam O'Brien at an Irish bar on March 14, 2024.
She alleged that after returning to Mr O'Brien's hotel room at the Omni Parker House hotel she had consensual sex with Mr O'Brien.
She stated this week to the jury of nine men and six women that she went to the other bed in the room because of Mr O'Brien's loud snoring and got under the covers naked, unaware that he was sharing the room with Mr Crosbie, who was not present at the time. Terence Crosbie.
'I woke up, and a guy was inside of me,' the woman testified, tears streaming down her face as she read a text message she sent to a friend shortly after the alleged attack.
The woman stated that she believed it was not Mr O'Brien because he was bald and the person on top of her was not.
She later attended Massachusetts General Hospital in the early hours of the next morning.
A nurse who treated the woman and completed an 'evidence collection kit,' as well as a doctor involved in the treatment, testified to a 'tear' in the woman's vaginal area, but said that it was possible that this could have happened as a result of consensual sex, the Globe reported. Pic: Omni Parker House
In Mr Crosbie's police interview played to the trial he said that he had visited Irish pubs in Boston on the night in question before making his way back to the shared hotel room.
Mr Crosbie said he was the first back to the room, but when Mr O'Brien returned with a woman he had been talking to at pub, he left to give them some privacy.
He claimed he had waited on a chair beside the hotel's lifts and eventually returned to the room.
The court heard Mr Crosbie tell police that the room was pitch black and he used the light of his phone to find his way into his bed, which he claimed was empty.
He said he removed his outer clothing and lay down and that several minutes later, he heard the woman who was with Mr O'Brien 'rummaging around' for her things and leaving the room.
Rebecca Boissaye, a criminalist at the Boston Police Crime Lab, testified on Thursday that she performed the initial DNA testing on samples from the woman's evidence collection kit, taken hours after the alleged assault.
On a breast swab from the woman, she and Mr O'Brien were included as DNA sources, Ms Boissaye said, and Mr Crosbie was 'excluded'.
Lawyers for Mr Crosbie asked several times if it was correct that Mr Crosbie's DNA was not found in the woman's swabs.
'In the profiles detected, he was not included,' Ms Boissaye responded. Suffolk County Assistant District Attorney Erin Murphy asked why skin cells might not be detected during testing.
'We don't always have enough DNA to detect the skin cells a person may have left behind,' Ms Boissaye said.
The trial heard that a detective arrived at Mr Crosbie's hotel the day after the alleged assault to arrest Mr Crosbie, and was told he was not there. He had booked a flight from Boston to Dublin at 7.10pm that evening. Mr Crosbie was removed from the plane and taken into custody. He has been in jail in Boston since his arrest.