Former Ros na Rún actor Garrett Phillips has been jailed for six years for raping a young student he met in a Galway park.
The court heard it happened in November 2015 after he found her crying on a park bench in Galway city and offered her a lift home.
Phillips, who recently starred as Frank Sinatra in a West End show, claimed what happened was consensual but was found guilty in April.
This morning, the judge said there was a “predatory element” to what she described as the “callous rape of a young woman.”
Former Ros na Rún actor Garrett Phillips (46) has been jailed for six years for raping a young student he met in a park in Galway in 2015. It happened while she was asleep in his van after he offered her a lift home. She had been out drinking and was upset when he met her.
— Frank Greaney (@FrankGreaney) July 9, 2018
Philips’ trial heard that in the early hours of November 5th 2015, the complainant left a Galway city nightclub and was upset and sitting on a bench on her own when he approached her and offered her a lift home.
She told Gardaí she fell asleep in his van and woke up to find him orally raping her while standing up in front of her on the passenger side.
When she got out, she said she memorised the car registration and kept repeating it out loud until she raised the alarm at a nearby house.
In her victim impact statement, the woman said she has since suffered with depression, anxiety and has become a very angry person.