Conor McGregor ordered to pay £200,000 to woman after court finds he raped her
Conor McGregor has been ordered to pay £200,000 in damages to a woman who successfully sued him claiming he raped her in a hotel penthouse.
The UFC star, 36, was found to have assaulted Nikita Hand, 35, who launched a civil case after the director of public prosecutions in Ireland decided not to charge him criminally.
McGregor, who was accompanied by his family, including his partner Dee Devlin, parents, sister and brother-in-law, shook his head as the verdict was announced.
The total amount of damages awarded to Ms Hand by the jury was 248,603.60 euro.
Speaking afterwards, Ms Hand described having to go through the court process as a ‘nightmare’.
She thanked her legal team, the judge and jury, gardai and paramedics, as well as doctors and nurses who provided her treatment and the Rape Crisis Centre.
Calls to Rape Crisis Centre rose during McGregor case
Calls to the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre surged during the McGregor case, RTE reports.
Chief executive Rachel Morrogh told the Irish broadcaster calls went up by 17% in the first 10 days of the trial, with contact by first-time callers increasing by 50% in the same period.
She said media coverage of the case was having ‘a really profound effect on the people who use the centre’s services’.
‘This case is being directly referenced by many of those callers who are distressed at the contents that they’re reading in the traditional media, but also that they’re accessing information that has been pushed through social media,’ she said.
‘So it’s a really distressing time.’
Ms Hand added: ‘I want to thank all the women and men out there who have supported me throughout this trial.
‘For every person who reached out to me – a card, a letter, an email, everything – it hasn’t gone unnoticed. Thank you, I really appreciate it so much.’
Ms Hand said she hoped her case will remind victims of assault to keep ‘pushing forward for justice’.
Visibly shaking, she said: ‘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.
‘I know this has impacted not only my life, my daughter’s, my family and friends tremendously.
‘It’s something that I’ll never forget for the rest of my life.
‘Now that justice has been served, I can now try and move on and look forward to the future with my family and friends and daughter.’
Asked if she felt vindicated following the jury’s decision, she said: ‘Yes, I do. Thank you.’
Ms Hand, who has no automatic right to anonymity, told the High Court in Dublin McGregor pinned her to a bed and raped her in a hotel bedroom in the city in December 2018.
A paramedic told the jury she had not seen ‘someone so bruised’ in a long time when she examined Ms Hand the day after the alleged sex attack.
The mum-of-one was left with extensive bruises and abrasions over her body, including purple and blue bruising along her hands and wrists, a bloodied scratch to her breast and tenderness to her neck after she was placed in a ‘choke-hold’ by McGregor, the court was told.
During her evidence, Ms Hand told jurors: ‘I just kept thinking I would die and not see my daughter again.
‘He let me go and I remember saying I was sorry, as I felt that I did something wrong and I wanted to reassure him that I wouldn’t tell anyone so he wouldn’t hurt me again.
‘Then he said that’s how he felt when he was in the Octagon and had to tap out three times. I thought it was such a weird thing to say.
What to do if you've been raped
If you have been the victim of rape, either recently or historically, and are looking for help, support is out there.
- If you have recently been raped and you are still at risk, ring 999 and ask for the police. Otherwise, the first step is to go somewhere you are safe.
- If you want to report your rape to the police, ring 999 or the police non-emergency line on 101. An Independent Sexual Violence Advocate (ISVA) will often be on hand to help you through reporting and even after you have made a statement, you can still decide to withdraw from the criminal justice process at any time.
- If you plan on going to the police, if possible, do not wash your clothes or shower, bathe or brush your teeth. If you do get changed, keep the clothes you were wearing in a plastic bag. These steps will help to preserve any DNA evidence your attacker may have left on your body or clothes.
- If you don’t want to contact the police, Rape Crisis suggest talking to someone you trust about what has happened; or you can ring one of the UK’s many rape and sexual assault helplines.
- Anyone aged 16+ can contact Rape Crisis's 24/7 Support Line by calling 0808 500 2222 or starting an online chat.
- If you have been injured, you’re best advised to go to your nearest A&E to seek medical treatment. If you are uninjured, you can go to your nearest Sexual Assault Referral Centre (SARC). The NHS has information on where to find your nearest centre here.
- If your rape is historic, you can still access support, including from the police – there is no time limit on reporting and your account can still be used as evidence.
‘I promised I wouldn’t tell anybody anything.
‘Then I just let him do whatever he needed to do so I could survive. My mind was completely gone and I wasn’t myself anymore.’
McGregor, nicknamed ‘Notorious’, insisted from the witness box he had consensual sex with Ms Hand in a penthouse in the Beacon Hotel and said ‘she never said no or stopped’.
He was asked about evidence Ms Hand gave in which she claimed he put her in a head lock and said ‘now you know how I felt in the octagon’, after he was beaten in a 2018 match.
‘Your client is full of lies. Everything is a lie,’ Mr McGregor said.
‘How anyone could believe that me, as a prideful person, would highlight my shortcomings. It is a full-blown lie among many lies.’
McGregor described sex between him and Ms Hand as ‘vigorous, athletic, physical and prolonged’, adding that it was ‘not rough’.
He denied he caused the bruises on her body, saying they may have been caused when she did a ‘swan dive’ into a bath while they were partying in the hotel suite.
Ms Hand, who is also known as Nikita Ni Laimhin, lost her case against another man, James Lawrence, who she accused of assaulting her by allegedly having sex without her consent at the same hotel.
Following eight days of evidence and three days listening to closing speeches and the judge’s charge, the jury of eight women and four men spent six hours and 10 minutes deliberating before returning with its verdict.
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