Woman orally raped by Galway actor reveals how trial made her feel rape was her fault
A young woman who was orally raped by a former Ros na Rún actor after she fell asleep in his van after he offered her a lift home has spoken of her ongoing anxiety after the attack.
In a victim impact statement the woman also spoke of how the court process made her feel like the rape was her fault.
Garrett Phillips (46) of St Mary's Terrace, Taylor's Hill, Galway, was convicted after a four-day trial at the Central Criminal Court last month of one charge of orally raping the then 20-year-old woman at a Galway location in the early hours of November 5, 2015.
He had pleaded not guilty to the offence.
The court heard that Phillips initially worked in his family business before getting into acting and had been appearing on stage in London in the run-up to his trial.
Reading from her victim impact statement, the woman said she had been very social, successful in sports and doing well in her studies before the attack.
“I was high achieving,” she said.
My life was a train on a track in the right direction.
The woman described how she is now a changed person, that she has questioned her will to live and started to “feel emotions that were foreign to me”.
She said the court process, during which she had to sit inches away from her attacker, was one of the hardest things she has ever had to do.
She said she was forced to speak about something painful and made to feel like a liar when giving her evidence over two days.
She revealed that she still takes medication for depression and anxiety and does not feel safe walking alone or sometimes in her own home.
She said because of the court process taking so long and being “attacking to victims” she was made to feel that the incident was her fault. She said she lost a lot of friends and her family relationships have also suffered.
“It's not my fault, this wasn't supposed to happen to me, but it did and here I am”.
Detective Garda Evelyn Barratt told Paul Burns SC, prosecuting, that Phillips approached the woman as she sat alone and upset on a park bench and offered her a lift home that night.
The woman took the lift, and on the way Phillips asked her if she had ever seen an overview of the city lights.
The woman replied that she hadn't, fell asleep and when she woke up, Phillips was no longer in the driver's seat but standing over her assaulting her.
The detective said the woman reacted strongly, got out of the van, memorised the registration and ran to a nearby home for help.
During the trial, the jury heard that Phillips later claimed to gardaí that it was a consensual encounter which had started off “very tender” and felt “chemical”.
Today defence counsel, Barry White SC, submitted that Phillips wished to “unreservedly apologise for his behaviour”.
Mr White said his client did not inform his wife about the matter until the evening before his trial last month.
Ms Justice Eileen Creedon adjourned the sentencing hearing until July when the matter will be finalised.
She ordered a Probation Service report and remanded Phillips on continuing bail until that date.
