Due to the lack of direct evidence, I'm not surprised the first trial was a mistrial. It must have been difficult for the latest jury to decide if he was guilty or innocent.
I find the fact that the victim couldn't describe him properly problematic as her desciption of the man who raped her was the same size as her and no tattoos . She also said he wasn't in the room when she arrived with his friend, even though the hotel cameras put him in the room when they arrived and he then left and sat outside the room for hours. Therefore, she must have known the friend was sharing a room so why get into the other bed.
What was problematic about the firefighter is that he went back into the room to go to bed. There only seems to be the 2 men and the victim in the room, which means it had to be him who raped her. His attorney argued that Irish people don't use the words 'friend' or 'loser', which is ridiculous. There doesn't seem to be a plausible reason for why he booked an earlier flight home, before the parade he was supposed to walk in took place.
The DNA is weird. There would be his DNA on the bed, which would have transferred to her because she got into the bed. There was an argument made that this was their 1st night in the hotel but I don't know many who'd fly from Dublin to Boston and not flop down on the bed when they get to the bedroom.
I think he'll appeal as he has a hood chance to get the verdict overturned. The downside of him winning the appeal is it implies she wasn't raped. I'm uncomfortable not believing rape victims.
I think the Fire Brigade needs to put in guidelines on how staff members are expected to behave when representing them, as the seediness of their behaviour that this case has shown is disgusting.