George Fay, the 32-year-old son of an appeals court judge, has been deported from the United States after serving eight years in prison for raping a university student as she slept. He has been banned from ever returning to the country.
Fay, who was born in London, was handed over to immigration officials earlier this month before being deported to his family, who have homes in the Channel Islands and the British Virgin Islands. His release from prison was confirmed in New York prison records on September 4, with his official status listed as “Conditional Release to Immigration”. This means he was granted parole, but the release was conditional on being handed straight over to immigration authorities (ICE), rather than being freed into the community.
Conviction and sentencing
In February 2018, a jury found Fay guilty on all three counts of rape, sex abuse, and a criminal sexual act on a victim who was “physically incapable” of consenting. As he was led away, his mother, Sofia Fay, attempted to stand and speak with her son but was stopped by court officers. She blew him a kiss as he was led out of the courtroom, and collapsed onto a bench in the gallery, muttering “Jesus Christ.”
Fay was released from the Otisville Correctional Facility in Orange County, New York, where he had been transferred from the Wallkill Correctional Facility.
Appeal attempts and trial details
Following his conviction, Fay and his lawyers had demanded a new trial, claiming his attack was “a mutual misunderstanding”. They argued that a key expert witness for the defence, sleep expert Dr Michael Thorpe, was wrongly prevented from testifying in support of the then 26-year-old. In documents submitted to New York's Southern District, lawyers stated that had the expert been allowed to appear, it could have cleared him.
During his trial, jurors were told Fay attacked the then 20-year-old after a night of drinking and smoking cannabis. She said she had awoken in his luxury Manhattan apartment following a night of sex with his best pal Charles Slye, who was her boyfriend, to find Fay attacking her. Fay's defence team argued the victim “in her fatigued and intoxicated state” mistook her attacker for Slye, which is why she returned his kisses and had sex with him in July 2016. After the prosecution interviewed Dr Thorpe ahead of Fay's trial, they successfully prevented him from giving evidence.
Family background and prior application
Fay is the eldest son of Judge Michael Fay, who was made King’s Counsel in 2013, appointed as a Deputy High Court Judge of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court in 2011, and as a Deputy Court of Appeal Judge in 2017. His mother is a public relations executive for a yacht company.
Before Fay’s release, his parents had applied to have their son serve his sentence in the British Virgin Islands, where they have an estate.
