Irish firefighter Terence Crosbie is on trial for the second time in Boston after a mistrial was declared last June due to a deadlocked jury
Alana Loftus Boston reporter
05:00, 17 Oct 2025
Terence Crosbie (Image: NBC Boston)
Irish firefighter Terence Crosbie, who is accused of the rape of a woman in Boston last year, thought “being far from home meant no one would know what he did,” the prosecution argued in their opening statement of the retrial.
Opening statements were delivered to the court on Thursday, marking the beginning of the second trial of Terence Crosbie.
The 39-year-old firefighter from Dublin was previously tried in June, but a mistrial was declared after the jury failed to come to a unanimous decision, reports The Irish Star.
On Thursday, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts argued that Crosbie “tried to escape the consequences of what he had done,” as he boarded an earlier flight back to Dublin shortly after being questioned by authorities.
“He used his trip as a way to be anonymous far from home, and commit a rape he thought he could get away with,” the prosecution added.
“The defendant, the firefighter, the person who’s supposed to protect people from harm, he became the danger,” they continued.
Crosbie has pleaded not guilty. When he took to the stand in court in June, Crosbie said he “hit the panic button” after being accused of rape.
The father-of-two is charged with raping a 29-year-old woman at the Omni Parker House Hotel in Boston on March 15, 2024. Crosbie was visiting the city with a group of other firefighters, set to march in the South Boston Parade.
During the first trial, the court heard that the alleged victim willingly went back to the Omni Parker House hotel in Boston with a fellow Dublin firefighter, with whom Crosbie was sharing a room.
The pair had consensual sex and then fell asleep in separate beds. The 29-year-old woman alleged that she awoke later in the night to a man she believes to be Terence Crosbie, raping her.
On Thursday, in their opening statement, Crosbie’s defence team argued that the alleged victim “has never identified her attacker, or identified Mr Crosbie as her attacker”.
The defence also added: “The Commonwealth had everything they needed to compare and contrast the DNA from (the victims) body… not once, not a single time, did they find a trace of Terence Crosbie’s DNA.”
On Wednesday, potential jurors were questioned about possible biases against Irish people or those who speak with an Irish accent.
Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest news from the Irish Mirror direct to your inbox: Sign up here.
Follow the 2025 presidential race every step of the way with our politics newsletter
The Irish Mirror will be following the Irish presidential race every step of the way. Sign up here for our politics newsletter, Party Lines, and get news, analysis and top stories from the campaign trail direct to your inbox.