Photograph: Brian Lawless/PA Media
A jury at a civil trial at Ireland’s high court has found that the Irish martial arts fighter Conor McGregor assaulted a woman who had accused him of raping her at a hotel in Dublin in December 2018.
McGregor was ordered to pay nearly €250,000 (£210,000) in damages to Nikita Hand, who is also known as Nikita Ní Laimhín.
Lawyers for Hand had accused McGregor, 36, of “brutally raping and battering” her after she invited him to join her and a friend at a work Christmas party.
Hand also alleged that another man, James Lawrence, who joined the party, sexually assaulted her. The jury found that Lawrence did not assault Hand.
Speaking outside the court after the verdict, Hand, 35, told reporters that she was “overwhelmed” by the support she had received. She thanked her family and a staff member from a rape crisis centre who had sat beside her throughout “this entire period”, including the two-week trial.
Hand said, referring to her daughter: “I want to show Freya and every other girl and boy that you can stand up for yourself if something happens to you, no matter who the person, is and justice will be served.
“To all the victims of sexual assault, I hope my story is a reminder that no matter how afraid you might be, speak up, you have a voice, and keep on fighting for justice.”
She said she hoped to rebuild her life now that the six-year ordeal was over.
Hand, who grew up in the same area of Dublin as McGregor, took the civil court case primarily to be vindicated, her barrister had told the court, after the director of public prosecutions decided not to pursue a criminal case on the grounds that there was no reasonable prospect of a conviction.
McGregor doubled over with his head in his hands and shook his head as the jury returned its verdict and awarded Hand damages of €248,603.
He later said he would appeal against the decision, writing on X: “The judge’s instruction and the modest award given was for assault, not for aggravated or exemplary damages. I am disappointed that the jury did not hear all the evidence that the [director of public prosecutions] reviewed. I am with my family now, focused on my future.”
There were tense scenes in court as McGregor arrived with a large supporter and family contingent including his partner, Dee Devlin, his mother, Margaret McGregor, and sister Aoife McGregor, along with his boxing coach, Philip Sutcliffe, standing at the back just feet away from Hand.
McGregor had denied the allegations, saying that he had “fully consensual sex” with Hand. He also denied causing bruising to her. He told the court that Hand’s accusations against him were “full of lies” verging on “fantasy”.
Hand had told the court that she and a friend made contact with McGregor, whom she knew, after a work Christmas party. She said they were driven by McGregor to a party in a penthouse room of a south Dublin hotel, where drugs and alcohol were consumed. She said McGregor took her to a bedroom in the penthouse and sexually assaulted her. Hand’s lawyer John Gordon said she was on antidepressants and “full of drugs” at the time of the alleged assault.
The verdict is likely to renew questions about the difficulty of bringing rape cases to court. Hand’s barrister told the court this week that whatever the outcome she would “always be a marked woman” because she had the “courage” to stand up to the fighter.
Hand had told the jury she was “absolutely devastated and let down” when the director of public prosecutions told her they would not be progressing her file.
Over the two weeks of the trial, the jury heard harrowing accounts of the incident, including a 45-minute recording of a conversation in which a deeply distressed Hand told her then boyfriend about the alleged rape.
The court heard Hand saying McGregor had pinned her down on the bed with all his body weight, and claiming he had put her head in a headlock, mock-choking her three times in a “terrifying” episode.
