Nikita Hand says "justice has been served" after she wins High Court case against Conor McGregor

Nikita Hand said “justice has been served” after a jury found that UFC star Conor McGregor assaulted her - and awarded her damages of almost €250,000.

A jury of four men and eight women sided with Ms Hand, 35, a former hair colourist from Drimnagh in Dublin, who said she was brutally raped by McGregor, 36, in the penthouse suite of the Beacon Hotel in Sandyford on December 9, 2018.

The jury came to the verdict after six hours and 10 minutes of deliberating - and found that McGregor assaulted Ms Hand - but found that co-respondent James Lawrence, did not.

READ MORE: Nikita Hand's home broken into and partner stabbed in incident earlier this year

READ MORE: Watch: Conor McGregor silent as he leaves court after Nikita Hand wins case against him

Asked by the court registrar if they had come to a verdict, the jury foreman confirmed he had - and handed over a document then read by presiding Judge Alexander Owens just before 4.50pm on Friday.

Answering the question as to whether McGregor assaulted Ms Hand, the jury said “Yes,” while answering “No” to the same question regarding Lawrence. The jury then awarded €248,603.60 in general and special damages - taking into account Ms Hand’s loss of earnings since she stopped working - and her loss of earnings in the future.

Following the verdict, McGregor left court to a frenzy of media but refused to comment. He later tweeted that he was appealing the decision, saying: “I will be appealing today's decision. 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 DPP reviewed. I am with my family now, focused on my future. Thank you to all my support worldwide.”

An emotional Ms Hand spoke to the waiting media outside court - firstly thanking her supporters and her legal team.

"I would like to start off by saying I'm overwhelmed and touched by the support I have received from everybody,” she said.

"First, I want to thank the legal team and my three barristers, John Gordon, Ray Boland and Sean. They have been amazing from start to finish. I want to thank Mr Justice Alexander Owens, the jury, all the witnesses, I want to thank the doctors, nurses and everyone at the sexual assault treatment unit in the Rotunda Hospital for looking after me, especially my own doctor Frank Clarke.

"I want to thank the Rape Crisis Centre, especially Cliona, who has been by my side throughout this entire period. I want to thank all the guards and the ambulance crew. 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, e-mail, everything, it hasn't gone unnoticed. Thank you. I really appreciate it so much,” she continued. "I want to thank my partner Gary, who has been so supportive for the last four years and has held my hand throughout his trial every day and every other day.

"I want to thank my Mam and all my family and friends. Lastly, I want to thank my daughter Freya, who I'm most grateful for. She has given me so much strength and courage over the last six years throughout this nightmare to keep on pushing forward for justice.

"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.

"I know this has impacted not only my life, my daughter's, my family and friends tremendously, and it's something that I'll never forget for the rest of my life. But 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."

Answering questions from the media, Ms Hand also said what she had gone through was a “nightmare” and confirmed she felt she had finally achieved vindication.

The two-week civil trial had heard that Gardaí investigated the alleged rape but that the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) ultimately ruled no charges would be brought - with it later citing that it did not believe a conviction was possible beyond a reasonable doubt. Ms Hand had asked the DPP to review its decision, but it stated that it would not.

In the civil case, the jury only had to find on the balance of probabilities - a lower threshold than beyond a reasonable doubt. McGregor, one of Ireland’s most famous men, has now been found liable for an assault which the court heard Ms Hand say was a rape at the Beacon Hotel’s penthouse suite on the night of December 9, 2018, but McGregor denied he had raped her. He is not, however, a convicted rapist and has not been found guilty of any criminal offence.

McGregor took to the witness stand in the case and insisted he did not rape Ms Hand - while Ms Hand also gave evidence of what she described as a “brutal” attack in which the MMA fighter put her in a chokehold and raped her. McGregor, she said, told her while choking her “how he felt when I was in the Octagon and I had to tap myself out three times”.

She went on to say that McGregor “flipped” her around and “choked” her after “my only defence was to bite”. "I was trying to fight as much as I could. I bit him and he didn't like it, it was like he was just behind me then. He choked me, put his arm around me.

"I just remember him behind me and I think I was sitting on the bed. He put his arm around my neck and choked me three times." The third choke, she said, lasted longer and was "more strong". "I just completely thought I was going to die."

In his closing speech to the jury, Ms Hand’s defence counsel John Gordon called McGregor a “devious coward” and a “liar” and said the evidence against him in this case is "embarrassing and overwhelming.” He also suggested that McGregor and Lawrence were in “cahoots” with one another from the start and had tried to make his client look like “an even bigger hussy”.

He said, initially, McGregor seemed to be making the case that this was “just fun athletic sex,” but that when he got on the witness stand he said more than once that there was no tampon and floated the possibility of a third man. Mr Gordon pointed to the evidence of paramedic Eithne Scully, who he said described Ms Hand’s injuries as being among the worst cases she had ever seen.

He said that and the evidence of Rotunda Hospital doctor Kane shows Ms Hand was assaulted -and it happened in the Beacon Hotel. “It was Mr McGregor,” Mr Gordon said, adding that in the course of his evidence in the witness box, the “mask slipped” and he “lost his temper” and that a “stream of invective was aimed directly at my client across the courtroom”.

Mr Gordon said the facts in this case “are straightforward, simple and incontrovertible” and suggested that Mr McGregor and Mr Lawrence’s case is "built on trying to throw as much dust in your eyes as possible. Mr Gordon said that the “liar” in this case is Mr McGregor - who he said “doesn't have the courage, doesn't have the decency to own up to what he did.

“This is a man who thrives by the media. If he was a man at all, he'd apologise to my client for what he did to her that night. But he's not a man. He's a coward. A devious coward. And you should treat him for what he is,” he said.

He also described a photo of Ms Hand’s scratch on her breast as being a “talisman” in this case and said it corroborates her evidence of being scratched by her own watch when she held her hands up as McGregor pressed down on her. He further suggested that McGregor had suffered a defeat in a fight two months earlier and that when he was with Ms Hand “he was in some temper and he was taking it out on my client come hell or high water.”

He also told the jury that they had heard about Ms Hand’s fear that she expressed to Gardaí - and that this came up in the evidence of others, including Dr Leader and Dr Clarke.

He said seeking vindication from the jury is a huge step but it won’t change what happened to her nor does it change the fact “that she will live with this for the rest of her days,” or the the fact that “she will always be a marked woman because she stood up to Conor McGregor."

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