A 62-year-old Manhattan man was convicted of sex crimes charges Monday for the brutal assault and rape of a 23-year-old Asian woman inside a sidewalk construction shed in Chelsea in December 2021, according to the Manhattan District Attorney’s office.
Darryl Phelps, who was a registered sex offender, was convicted by a jury in less than hour of deliberations for attacking and raping the young woman at around 1:30 a.m. on Dec. 22, 2021, while she was walking home from her job as a waiter in Korea Town. The vicious attack took place on West 28th Street near Eighth Avenue.
Phelps, according to the Manhattan district attorney, knocked the woman to the ground after striking her in the head with a hard object. He then punched her repeatedly and threatened to kill her if she made any noise. He then proceeded to take off her pants, sexually assault her and rape her, while holding her down with one arm while wrapping the other around her neck.
A witness called the police, and when officers arrived Phelps was on top of the woman. The cops pulled him off the woman and then placed him under arrest.
The victim was in New York on a student visa and left the country following the incident. She has not returned.
The Manhattan D.A.’s sex crime unit presented its evidence based on the officers’ body-worn camera footage and testimony from eyewitnesses and individuals the victim spoke to in the aftermath of the attack.
Phelps, who was convicted of attempted rape in 1997, was found guilty Monday of predatory sexual assault and sexual abuse.
“In less than an hour of deliberations, a jury of Darryl Phelps’ peers found him guilty of brutally raping a young woman who was simply trying to walk home from work,” said District Attorney Alvin Bragg in a statement. “Notably, while this survivor did not return to the United States to testify, our prosecutors were able to secure this conviction using body-worn camera footage, eyewitness testimony, and other evidence.”
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