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A new trial has been ordered for a Toronto man who was found guilty last year of sexually assaulting a fellow York University PhD student with whom he had a casual relationship.

Ontario Superior Justice Michael Dambrot said the trial judge’s assessment of Mustafa Ururyar’s evidence appeared coloured by “rape literature.”

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Dambrot said Justice Marvin Zuker’s reasons for handing down a conviction were “incomprehensible.”

“All witnesses, not just rape complainants, are entitled to have their credibility assessed on the basis of the evidence in the case, rather than on assumptions about human behaviour derived from a trial judge’s personal reading of social science literature,” said Dambrot.

“I agree with the trial judge that we must be vigilant to reject pernicious stereotypical thinking about the behaviour of women. At the same time, we must not adopt pernicious assumptions about men and their tendency to rape.”