Mandi Gray, who is still describing herself as a sexual assault survivor despite her alleged attacker’s conviction being overturned, is taking York University back to the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal for allegedly breaching its settlement with her.
"Gray was both a graduate student and teaching assistant at the university at the time of her alleged assault – Jan. 31, 2015 — as was her alleged assailant, Mustafa Ururyar.
The two had met and begun sleeping together, a consensual casual affair, about two weeks before the alleged assault.
That night, at a party with other union members, she texted Ururyar and invited him to the pub, saying, “Come drink and then we can have hot sex.”
This was a text message Gray didn’t keep or tell Toronto Police about when she reported the alleged attack on Feb. 2 that year (Ururyar was charged with sexual assault). As she inimitably put it in cross-examination, “I didn’t think it was relevant to him raping me.”
Ururyar testified at trial in his own defence and insisted the sex that night was consensual."
"At trial before Ontario Court Judge Marvin Zuker, Ururyar was convicted in a judgement so florid and belittling of Ururyar that two Superior Court judges later deemed his language over the top and his reasoning incomprehensible.
One of those judges freed Ururyar on bail, pending his appeal; the other overturned the conviction and ordered a new trial.
That second trial never happened, with the prosecutor deciding it wouldn’t be in the interests of justice, and the matter was resolved in December last year with a common peace bond."
"As for another question – whether she and Gray will always refer to Gray as a sexual assault survivor and repeat the overturned allegations – Birenbaum said, “It is trite law that the fact someone was acquitted of a criminal charge does not mean nothing happened … It is simply not the case that a person can only refer to themselves as a survivor of sexual assault if they go to the police and a conviction has been entered.”
She asked that it be pointed out that “Mr. Ururyar signed a peace bond. A peace bond is generally an acknowledgement that the other party fears or has reason to fear for her safety.”
In other words, Mandi Gray can talk about her “rape” and call herself a survivor until the cows come home.
And what Ontario Court Judge Melvyn Green told Mustafa Ururyar, the day the case was settled – that, “The presumption of innocence is effectively restored to you” – was lovely sounding, but fundamentally meaningless.
https://leaderpost.com/opinion/chri...gain/wcm/2f511700-e2af-404c-8753-ecc44948d1eb
"Gray was both a graduate student and teaching assistant at the university at the time of her alleged assault – Jan. 31, 2015 — as was her alleged assailant, Mustafa Ururyar.
The two had met and begun sleeping together, a consensual casual affair, about two weeks before the alleged assault.
That night, at a party with other union members, she texted Ururyar and invited him to the pub, saying, “Come drink and then we can have hot sex.”
This was a text message Gray didn’t keep or tell Toronto Police about when she reported the alleged attack on Feb. 2 that year (Ururyar was charged with sexual assault). As she inimitably put it in cross-examination, “I didn’t think it was relevant to him raping me.”
Ururyar testified at trial in his own defence and insisted the sex that night was consensual."
"At trial before Ontario Court Judge Marvin Zuker, Ururyar was convicted in a judgement so florid and belittling of Ururyar that two Superior Court judges later deemed his language over the top and his reasoning incomprehensible.
One of those judges freed Ururyar on bail, pending his appeal; the other overturned the conviction and ordered a new trial.
That second trial never happened, with the prosecutor deciding it wouldn’t be in the interests of justice, and the matter was resolved in December last year with a common peace bond."
"As for another question – whether she and Gray will always refer to Gray as a sexual assault survivor and repeat the overturned allegations – Birenbaum said, “It is trite law that the fact someone was acquitted of a criminal charge does not mean nothing happened … It is simply not the case that a person can only refer to themselves as a survivor of sexual assault if they go to the police and a conviction has been entered.”
She asked that it be pointed out that “Mr. Ururyar signed a peace bond. A peace bond is generally an acknowledgement that the other party fears or has reason to fear for her safety.”
In other words, Mandi Gray can talk about her “rape” and call herself a survivor until the cows come home.
And what Ontario Court Judge Melvyn Green told Mustafa Ururyar, the day the case was settled – that, “The presumption of innocence is effectively restored to you” – was lovely sounding, but fundamentally meaningless.
https://leaderpost.com/opinion/chri...gain/wcm/2f511700-e2af-404c-8753-ecc44948d1eb
