Dublin firefighter denies contact with woman in Boston rape trial

Extra.ie​

20 hours ago

Dublin firefighter Terence Crosbie told US police that he had no physical contact with the woman he is accused of raping, his trial heard on Wednesday.
Mr Crosbie, 39, was visiting Boston with the Dublin Fire Brigade to take part in the St Patrick's Day parade last year 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.
The third day of the trial included Boston Police Detective Joseph McDonough describing the sexual assault investigation that led to Mr Crosbie's arrest the evening after the alleged incident.
A 20-minute tape-recorded interview of Mr Crosbie was also played for the jury of nine men and six women, the Boston Globe reported.
The firefighter was asked if he had 'any interactions' with a woman in the Omni Parker Hotel in the centre of Boston in the room he was sharing with fellow Dublin firefighter Liam O'Brien. He responded 'no'.
Mr Crosbie said he never touched or spoke to the woman. Mr McDonough asked him: 'Would you be surprised if she said differently?'. Terence Crosbie.
Mr Crosbie replied: 'Absolutely I would.'
When asked if she was crying when she left, he said: 'I don't know, she didn't show that she was crying'.
In another audio recording, Mr Crosbie asked if he could take a walk outside for some fresh air before continuing the interview. He told the detective that he 'felt like getting sick'.
At another point during the interview, he asked: 'Am I being accused of something or is Liam being accused of something.'
The woman in the case, who cannot be named for legal reasons, attended Massachusetts General Hospital and said she was sexually assaulted at the hotel earlier that morning on March 15.
In Mr. Crosbie's police interview played to the trial he said he visited Boston Irish pubs such as The Dubliner and The Black Rose before making his way back to the shared hotel room.
Mr Crosbie said that he was first back to the room, but when Mr O'Brien returned with a woman he had been talking to at The Black Rose, 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.
During her testimony, the woman said that after having consensual sex with Mr O'Brien, she went to the other bed in the room because of his loud snoring and got under the covers naked, unaware that Mr O'Brien was sharing the room.
She stated that she 'woke up to somebody on top of me', raping her. 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.
On cross-examination, Mr Crosbie's lawyer Daniel C. Reilly asked the Boston detective, Mr McDonough, about his initial interview with the woman after meeting her at the hospital, where she was admitted just after 3am.
Mr Reilly told jurors that Mr Crosbie's DNA was not found on the woman. Mr McDonough told the court that the woman did not report seeing any tattoos on her assailant. 'His booking photos indicate he has tattoos, correct?' Mr Reilly asked.
'Yes, it does,' the detective stated, according to the Boston Globe.
The detective also provided a timeline about the movements of the woman, Mr Crosbie, and Mr O'Brien through Boston on the night in question.
He said the woman and Mr O'Brien were seen entering the Omni Parker House hotel at 11:51 p.m and that Mr Crosbie arrived on the sixth floor of the hotel just before midnight.
The detective stated that Mr Crosbie briefly stopped at the shared hotel room and then went to the opposite end of the hallway, where he sat in a chair until about 1:55 a.m.
At 2:16 a.m., the hotel door is reopened and the woman is seen leaving the hotel, according to the detective.
Detective McDonough stated that later on March 15, after reaching a standard of probable cause to arrest Mr Crosbie, he returned to the hotel with a colleague and was informed that Mr Crosbie was not there.
Mr Crosbie had booked an airline ticket on a flight from Boston to Dublin at 7:10pm that evening and was removed from the boarded plane and taken into custody. He has been held in the Nashua Street jail in Boston since his arrest.
The trial continues in Boston.