Deportee claims sex abuse in lock-up

Seibert Phillips

Credibility is an issue after a 46-year-old St. Vincent woman who was about to be deported claims that a Canada Border Services guard assaulted her in the immigration lock-up on Rexdale Blvd., near the Toronto airport.

Accused is Seibert Phillips, 36, who the woman claimed ripped off her clothes, grabbed her breast and forced oral sex and intercourse on her.
But Phillips has denied the allegations, saying all that happened was “cheek-to-cheek” contact initiated by the complainant who was desperate to delay her removal from Canada.
“This is a he says-she says case,” defence lawyer Richard Darrah told the Ontario Superior Court.
The woman did not file a complaint in the matter until her deportation was confirmed a week after the incident.
Darrah said her initial complaint went from Phillips allegedly groping her to intercourse.
The inconsistencies, he said, “are hallmarks of someone not telling the truth.”
As well, he said, the woman appeared “calm and composed” in the video images captured in the hallway while leaving the interview room at 4:25 p.m., after the incident reportedly occurred.
However, Prosecutor Cheryl Blondell said Phillips was caught in the same video stepping out of the room shortly after 4p.m., the usual end of his work day, “to ensure that the area was vacant.”
She said that there is no template of what a victim should look like and the woman’s evidence appeared inconsistent because she was ashamed to reveal details of the assault.
The Crown said Phillips came into the office off-duty on July 2010 – nine days after the alleged incident and two days after the complaint was lodged – to intimidate the victim. The accused sent for the woman to see him under the name of another colleague.
Phillips’ co-worker, Sajjad Bhatti, testified he heard the accused apologising to the emotional woman in the hallway on July 17.
Under cross examination, Phillips said he did not know why the victim was crying, and that he was confused as to whether he had said anything or done anything to offend her, which is why he apologised to her.
The complainant in the matter has since been deported to St Vincent, while Phillips was fired by Canada Border Services last year.
The court reserved its decision in the matter.