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Woman's ‘nightmare began as she woke up', US prosecutor tells rape trial of Dublin firefighter
A US woman who has accused a Dublin firefighter of raping in her in a Boston hotel endured a 'nightmare' that began 'as she woke up', a US court was told.
Jurors in a Boston courthouse heard opening statements and testimony from the 29-year-old complainant in the case against
Dublin firefighter Terence Crosbie arrested on rape charges over St Patrick's Day weekend last year
.
Mr Crosbie (39) is charged with assaulting the woman in a shared hotel room while his colleague Liam O'Brien slept in the other bed.
He
denies the charges and has pleaded not guilty
in the trial, which started on Monday.
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'Our nightmares belong in our sleep and our nightmares and are supposed to end when we wake up,' the prosecuting lawyer, Suffolk Assistant District Attorney Daniela Mendes, said in her opening statement to the jury.
'Her nightmare began as she woke up.'
Ms Mendes told jurors that the prosecution will present evidence 'that will prove beyond a reasonable doubt' that Mr Crosbie raped the woman as she slept and continued to do so after she woke up and tried to fight him off.
Mr Crosbie's defence attorney, Patrick Garrity, told the jury 'the evidence will show you that there is a lot of doubt'.
The woman claims she went with Mr O'Brien to room 610 of the Omni Parker House hotel on Thursday, March 14th, after meeting him at a nearby bar, The Black Rose.
The couple then had sex and fell asleep in separate beds. She then woke up to a different man with 'an Irish accent' raping her.
The key contention between the two sides presented to jurors was how the DNA evidence collected from the woman was interpreted.
Forensic experts found 'two distinct male profiles', Ms Mendes told the court.
Prosecutors claim the finding of two male profiles supports the complainant's allegation that she was assaulted by a second man after having consensual sex with Mr O'Brien.
But Ms Mendes added that there was an insufficient amount of DNA to match the second profile 'to a known person'.
Defence lawyers told the jury of eight men and six women that the only known male DNA profile belongs to Mr O'Brien.
'Not once did they find a trace of Terence Crosbie,' Mr Garrity told the court.
The prosecution case is that the encounter with Mr O'Brien was consensual, Ms Mendes told the court – that was the night she signed up for.
'She did not sign up to be raped in her sleep by that man's hotel roommate,' the prosecuting lawyer said.
Mr Crosbie met another woman at the bar, she said, but left the bar alone.
Although he initially waited outside the hotel room on a chair in the hallway to give his friend privacy, shortly before 2am he 'was done waiting'.
He saw that the complainant was 'defenceless' and asleep, and 'saw an opportunity', said the prosecutor.
According to the prosecution, the woman awoke to a man with an Irish accent having sex with her.
The man, later identified by the woman as Mr Crosbie, told the accuser that she 'wanted this', even as she struggled and told him to stop.
When she broke free, he then cornered her against a wall, all while Mr O'Brien slept, oblivious, still snoring, the prosecuting lawyer said.
Mr Garrity began opening statements with his hands on the defendant's shoulders, calling him 'Terry' as Mr Crosbie gazed directly at the jury.
Mr Crosbie is 'seated here because this is the only avenue he has to deny these allegations', he told the jury.
'We don't convict people on 'maybes' or 'what-ifs.' We don't convict people on emotion, and this is going to be an emotional case,' he said.
He told the jury they would hear 'how intoxicated' the woman was 'by the time she went back to the hotel room'.
He said they would hear how the woman's statements were inconsistent, with her story changing 'as recently as two weeks ago'.
The case, Mr Garrity said, 'boils down to the word of one person because Mr O'Brien was asleep and snoring through the alleged assault'.
Mr Crosbie attempted to flee the county on an early flight after being questioned by Boston police, but detectives had told him he was a 'free man, you can do whatever you please', his lawyer told the court.
Mr Crosbie was unfamiliar with American criminal and judicial customs, he said. This is 'not his world', added Mr Garrity, gesturing around the Boston courtroom.
In her testimony to the court, the complainant described the hours prior to the assault and reviewed video taken from The Black Rose, occasionally wiping away tears as she spoke.
She said she went with co-workers for drinks and met members of the Dublin Fire Brigade who had flown into Boston to march in the St Patrick's Day parade.
The woman identified herself as 'dancing very awkwardly' in the video and trying to get other people at the bar to get up and dance.
She described Mr O'Brien as 'about my height, maybe a little bit shorter, bald, white, Irish accent'.
Mr O'Brien and his colleagues were wearing T-shirts identifying themselves as members of the Dublin Fire Brigade, she said..
After dancing with Mr O'Brien for about two hours, she said they kissed, he gave her his sweatshirt and they left together.
The trial continues in Boston.
