There will be no retrial for a man whose conviction of sexually assaulting a fellow PhD student was overturned, according to the complainant in the case.

In July 2016, Mustafa Ururyar was convicted of sexually assaulting Mandi Gray in his apartment on Jan. 31, 2015. The controversial 179-page decision that quoted from academic studies and literature about sexual assault was overturned on appeal this past summer.

Disheartened with and tired of the justice system, Gray said she is relieved to put the difficult time behind her and not have to undergo another arduous and draining trial.

“I have wanted this since I found out about the appeal of the conviction because the legal system has demonstrated itself to be so grossly incompetent and has no regard for my life,” Gray told the Star on Tuesday. “It has been brutalizing experience.”

The charges will be withdrawn Wednesday in a downtown Toronto courtroom, said Gray. Ururyar is expected to sign a peace bond that does not include an admission of guilt, but bars him from contacting Gray for a year.

A peace bond is a protection order made by a court. A defendant may face criminal charges if they do not obey the conditions of the peace bond.

“I have gotten everything I needed, I wanted to return to campus and pursue my education,” said Gray. “It shouldn’t take three years of your life to be able to return to your workplace without fear of seeing the perpetrator and that was at the core of what I was seeking.”

Ururyar’s lawyer, Daniel Brown, declined to comment on the case Tuesday.

Both graduate students at York University, Ururyar and Gray had been in a casual relationship before the alleged assault in 2015. After a night of drinking, the two went to Ururyar's apartment, where Gray alleges she was raped. Ururyar testified the sex was consensual and that Gray had been sexually aggressive throughout the night.

From July: Mandi Gray stands outside court to address the media after a Superior Court judge has overturned a controversial decision convicting York University student Mustafa Ururyar of sexually assaulting Gray and ordered a new trial.

The now-retired trial judge, Marvin Zuker, sentenced Ururyar to 18 months in jail and took the unprecedented step of ordering him to pay $8,000 in legal costs.

This past summer, Superior Court Justice Michael Dambrot overturned the verdict on appeal, calling it incomprehensible and illogical and lacking proper reasons for the conviction.

The case was sent back to Ontario court and left up to the Crown to decide whether to prosecute the case a second time. Mandi Gray said prosecutors told her Monday that Ururyar would sign a peace bond.

Gray said she was surprised by the news since Crown attorneys had told her days earlier that Ururyar had refused the peace bond and the matter would be going to trial.

“I exasperated so much energy and resources and emotions into this and the mere thought of having to go into another trial is brutalizing,” she said. “For me it was never about punishment, even if he was convicted again, I don’t think he will ever recognize or acknowledge the harm that has been done to me.”

After the conviction in 2016, which was later overturned, Gray said she still felt haunted by the past.

“I thought to myself, ‘okay this judge believes me but I still feel really awful that I have been sexually assaulted, and not only that, but that I had to take the stand and be cross examined,” she said.

Gray had to take time off work for a year to participate in the initial trial. She said she was only given 20 free counseling sessions and was asked very personal and irreverent questions while being cross examined for days. The entire experience, she said, was painful and did very little to consider her needs and concerns.

“After all I had been through it was really hard to celebrate or be happy after the conviction,” she said. “Just going through that process again to see him potentially be convicted, it’s just not worth it for me, I think my life will be so much better accepting all of this and just moving forward”

“My takeaway, for other women, is to be prepared to be your own advocate because there is no one else in the system that will be looking out for you.”

With files from Betsy Powell

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