A court in Boston has granted a Dublin firefighter charged with rape the necessary funds to hire a private investigator to help fight his case.
Terence Crosbie (37) did not attend the brief hearing at the Suffolk County Superior Courthouse on Wednesday. He remains in custody on bail at Nashua Street Jail, his lawyer Daniel C Reilly confirmed.
Mr Crosbie is charged with the rape of a 28-year-old woman at the Omni Parker House hotel in Boston last March. The alleged assault took place shortly after he flew into Boston with other members of the Dublin Fire Brigade on Thursday, March 14th for the St Patrick’s Day celebrations in the city.
The complainant reported the alleged assault to police the following morning.
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A previous hearing heard she met another Dublin fire brigade member, Liam O’Brien, at The Black Rose bar on March 14th. She then had consensual sex with him in the room he was sharing with Mr Crosbie at the hotel.
Mr Crosbie allegedly entered the room hours later, while Mr O’Brien and the woman were asleep. The complainant claims she awoke to find a man she did not know raping her.
Assistant district attorney Erin Murphy previously told the court the victim asked the man, who was later identified as Mr Crosbie, to stop. Instead, Ms Murphy said, he replied that he “knew that she wanted this” and that it was “pathetic” that his colleague was asleep.
After Mr Crosbie was interviewed by Boston police, he booked an early flight back home and boarded a flight. He was arrested as he sat on the plane.
In August Mr Reilly successfully argued for a reduction in Mr Crosbie’s bail from $100,000 to $10,000 (€93,000 to €9,300), informing the court that his client was an award-winning firefighter and paramedic. However, he said his client was unlikely to procure the funds necessary to secure his release, even with the reduction. “He’s essentially homeless here in America with no ability to provide any bail,” he said.
Mr Reilly added that Mr Crosbie had a “strong tight-knit” family, had been with his wife for 21 years and had two children. He said his client’s family were “struggling to make ends meet” while he was behind bars.
At an earlier hearing, Mr Crosbie was found to have insufficient funds so the state will now fund the cost of the defence hiring a private investigator. The cost has not been made public.
In the August hearing Mr Reilly also informed the court that Mr Crosbie had not been identified in DNA testing conducted so far.
On Wednesday Ms Murphy informed the court that additional testing was under way. “There is still some outstanding discovery in the form of comparative DNA testing,” she said, adding that the prosecution was also working to procure additional evidence via DNA testing.
A date for the next pretrial hearing has been set for November 26th.
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