A Boston courtroom delivered a hard verdict this week, convicting a visiting Dublin firefighter of raping a woman in a downtown hotel room during St. Patrick’s Day weekend.
According to The Irish Times, Terence Crosbie, a 39-year-old firefighter who traveled with colleagues to participate in Boston's annual Irish parade, was found guilty by a jury after a retrial concluded with over 15 hours of deliberation.
The courtroom saw heavy emotions as the verdict was read—some of Crosbie’s supporters wept, and his wife remained seated with her head down, a stark symbol of the shock felt on both sides of the aisle.
Four Days Of Testimony End With a Verdict
The case unfolded over 4½ days of testimony and argument, hearing from twelve jurors—six men and six women—tasked with weighing two very different tales of that night.
According to the victim, a 29-year-old attorney, she met Crosbie’s coworker, Liam O’Brien,n at a local bar and consensually went to his hotel room. She testified that O'Brien eventually fell asleep, and she moved to a second bed in the room. Her account turned grim from there. She said she woke up to find a stranger assaulting her, adding through tears, “What are you doing? Stop.” She described her rapist as a man she didn’t recognize—Crosbie—who allegedly told her she “liked it” and mocked his coworker, calling O’Brien “a loser.”
Conflicting Testimonies And Challenges To Memory
Both Crosbie and the woman took the stand in the trial twice, in fact, as the first trial ended in a hung jury. Crosbie insisted, “I didn’t touch her,” claiming he returned to a dark room where the bed was empty, encountered no one, and later heard someone collecting clothes and leaving quietly.
Defense attorneys worked overtime discrediting the woman’s memory, pointing to her alcohol consumption and psychiatric medication, suggesting she couldn’t reliably recall key details of the night—such as her assailant’s height, absence of tattoos, or even the name of the man she initially went home with.
But Assistant District Attorney Erin Murphy hit back, urging jurors to “think critically.” She dismissed the memory gaps as not “meaningful” and categorized Crosbie’s testimony as “scripted,” a well-rehearsed effort to evade obvious contradictions.
Incriminating Statements Raise Eyebrows
There were also troubling inconsistencies in Crosbie’s own admissions. During questioning by police, he reportedly asked whether the woman claimed she had been “pinned down”—a detail authorities said he could not have known unless he knew about the event.
In another odd moment, Crosbie speculated that his DNA may have been present on the woman because, as he claimed, he had masturbated in the hotel bed the prior morning—a day he later acknowledged he hadn’t yet arrived in Boston. The DNA analysis itself left the jury with a mystery: two male DNA profiles were found on the woman. One belonged to Liam O’Brien, confirming the consensual encounter. The second contributor was never identified, leaving defense counsel with just enough ambiguity to argue reasonable doubt—but only the first time around.
Prosecution Focuses On Behavior, Not Just Biology
Murphy’s strategy focused on undermining Crosbie’s credibility and placing jurors in the mindset of the woman who fled the hotel in fear, texting a friend and immediately seeking medical help. That instinct—to run, report, and document—painted a more reliable picture, prosecutors argued, than a story that shifted to suit the holes.
Reilly, Crosbie’s attorney, warned jurors not to assume guilt simply because the story was disturbing. “The complainant was unreliable,” he said, reminding them of “how high a burden” the law requires to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. Still, this time the panel didn’t blink. After hours of deadlock in the previous trial, they reached a unanimous decision: guilty.
Sentencing To Follow Verdict Overflow
Crosbie now awaits his sentencing hearing, scheduled for October 30, where he faces a penalty of up to 20 years in prison for a crime that has drawn attention on both sides of the Atlantic. It’s not the kind of international diplomacy Ireland or Boston hoped to highlight during St. Patrick’s Day festivities. But justice, slow and methodical, runs deeper than parades and green beer.
In the end, it wasn’t just Crosbie’s whereabouts that jurors doubted—it was his entire version of events. And despite the roaring debates about memory gaps, intoxication, and credibility, the jury backed the woman who, in her words, “didn’t stop” fighting to be believed.
