Life Sentence Looms for Attacker Convicted of Rape of Asian Woman in Chelsea in ‘21

A 61 year old man was convicted of sexual assault and sexual abuse for the brutal rape of an Asian woman at a Chelsea construction site in December and now prosecutors said he could face up to life in prison because of a past conviction in an attempted rape case.

Darry Phelps, 62, is scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 23, prosecutors said.

The victim, who was a student at the time, had left the United States and did not return for the trial. Prosecutors said that police had been alerted to the vicious attack by passersby and arrived on the scene quickly at a construction site at 28th St. and Eighth Ave.

Police body cam footage captured Phelps on top of the 23 year old woman and prosecutors obtained corroborating statements witnesses and from friends of the victim that she had spoken to about the attack.

Prosecutors said that Phelps hit the victim with a hard object, knocking her to the ground before punching her repeatedly and he threatened to kill her if she made noise or called the police. They charged that he took off her pants, sexually assaulted her and raped her, holding her down with one arm while wrapping another arm around her neck. A delivery driver called 911 and NYPD officers pulled Phelps off the victim and arrested him.

“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. Prosecutors said she had been working as a waitress in Koreatown. “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.”