Man convicted of sexually assaulting York University grad student

TORONTO — The victim of a sexual assault says she will not congratulate the legal system for doing its job following the conviction Thursday of the man who attacked her.

Toronto’s Mustafa Ururyar forced Mandi Gray, with whom he was having a casual relationship, to perform oral sex and engage in sexual intercourse in the early hours of Jan. 31, 2015, a judge ruled Thursday.

Gray, who waived the standard publication ban on the identity of complainants in sexual assault cases, said her “numerous and intersecting privileges” of being a white, heterosexual woman with a graduate-level education allowed her case to go to trial and made her experience atypical.

“I am tired of people talking to me like I won some sort of rape lottery because the legal system did what it is supposed to do,” she said in a written statement released after the conviction. 

“Both the judge and Crown did their jobs well,” she added. “But this should not be out of the ordinary in sexual assault cases… I will not congratulate the legal system, or the various courtroom actors, for doing what they are supposed to do.” 

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Ururyar and Gray were PhD students at York University at the time of the assault. Her “numerous and intersecting privileges” of being a white, heterosexual woman with a graduate-level education allowed her case to go to trial and made her experience atypical, she said.

Gray publicly alleged the university mishandled her case and has since become a central figure in the fight against campus assaults. It is not a role she wanted, she said.

“My experience of ‘justice seeking’ has been dehumanizing and demonstrated that my rights and experiences of violence are irrelevant to every social institution involved, including the university, the criminal justice system and the health care system,” Gray wrote.

A York spokeswoman has said the university approved a sexual assault policy last year and is working with student groups to develop new reporting procedures.

The assault happened after Gray texted Ururyar, inviting him to join her and some mutual friends for drinks at a bar in downtown Toronto, court heard. The text included the possibility of sex later that night if Ururyar came along.

At the end of the night, Ururyar became angry when a sexual encounter he had wanted with Gray and one of her friends did not materialize. He berated Gray on the walk home, calling her a slut and saying she had embarrassed him by being too drunk that night, court heard.

At his apartment, Ururyar grabbed the back of her head and forced her to perform oral sex before he raped her, Gray testified.  

Gray said she did not try to fight back during the assault because she was afraid of what else Ururyar might do.

Ururyar pleaded not guilty, testifying that he and Gray had engaged in consensual sex that night in his bedroom.

He testified that Gray had been sexually aggressive the entire night, groping him at the bars and initiating sex even after Ururyar tried to break up with her once they got home.

Justice Marvin Zuker rejected Ururyar’s claims and called his narrative a total fabrication.

“Behavioural stereotypes should not impact the way we (perceive) the complainant,” he added, saying relationships or texts between an accused and accuser, delays in reporting sexual assaults or the absence of physical resistance during an assault cannot be taken as evidence of consent.

“The myths of rape should be dispelled once and for all,” Zuker said.

Peter Goffin, The Canadian Press