Prosecution Accuses Irish Firefighter of Inconsistencies During Boston Rape Trial

The prosecution has accused Irish firefighter Terence Crosbie of contradicting his own testimony during his rape trial in Suffolk Superior Court, alleging that he attempted to correct himself on the stand “too late.”

During closing arguments, Assistant District Attorney Erin Murphy argued that Crosbie, who has pleaded not guilty to the rape of a 28-year-old Boston lawyer, inadvertently exposed inconsistencies in his defence while testifying.

Murphy highlighted an exchange from the previous day in which Crosbie sought to distance himself from words allegedly used by the attacker. Asked whether he typically used the term “friend,” Crosbie told the court he preferred “mate,” and that he would not have called anyone a “loser,” describing it as “American slang.”

However, Murphy pointed out that while discussing his relationship with Liam O’Brien, the man who had shared his hotel room that night, Crosbie referred to him as his “work friend.”
“He heard himself say it and tried to correct it — but it was too late,” Murphy told the court, calling it a slip that undermined his credibility.

The prosecution’s remarks came as jurors began deliberations in the case, which stems from an alleged assault on March 15, 2024, at the Omni Parker House Hotel in downtown Boston.

The alleged victim, a Boston-based attorney, testified that after returning to the hotel with O’Brien in the early hours of the morning, she awoke to find another man raping her — a man who told her it was “pathetic” that “his friend couldn’t give that,” and called him a “loser.”

Crosbie, a father of two and a member of the Dublin Fire Brigade, was in Boston along with ten colleagues to march in the city’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade. He has denied the allegations, maintaining that any interaction with the complainant was brief and that he left the room shortly after she and O’Brien returned from the bar.

According to hotel surveillance footage, Crosbie remained seated near the sixth-floor elevators for nearly two hours before returning to the room. He testified that he entered quietly, using his phone’s flashlight to find his way to his bed without disturbing anyone.

“I called out but got no reply. The room was dark,” Crosbie said. “I shone the light on the floor to make a path to my bed.”

The alleged victim, however, told the court that the bathroom light had been on when she went to sleep — and still on when she awoke to find a man assaulting her.

During cross-examination, the prosecution questioned Crosbie’s claim that the woman later entered the bathroom for 15 minutes, noting that he had never mentioned this detail in earlier proceedings. “They never asked,” Crosbie replied.

Murphy also drew attention to Crosbie’s initial police interview, in which he asked detectives:

“Can you specify what that means exactly, in the legal terms of rape? Is she saying someone pinned her down on the bed and had sex with her?”

At that stage, investigators had not disclosed any specifics of the allegation. Murphy argued that Crosbie’s phrasing appeared “too specific to be coincidental.”

The prosecution further alleged that Crosbie had lied to police about masturbating in the hotel room the morning after the alleged attack, suggesting he did so to explain the possible presence of his DNA. Crosbie denied this, insisting, “That’s not true. And my DNA was not found on her body.”

Murphy told jurors that the alleged victim had “no reason” to fabricate her account. “Her story did not magically align with the evidence — it aligned because it is true,” she said. “There is no mystery man, no phantom rapist. Terence Crosbie is not the unluckiest man in the world — he is simply a man who did a terrible thing because he thought he could.”

Defence attorney Daniel C. Reilly, in his closing argument, urged jurors to remain objective, saying the complainant “believes her own story” but that “it’s not that simple.”

Jurors are now deliberating on the verdict.