'Devious coward' Conor McGregor stood up to by ‘marked woman’, rape trial hears

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Conor McGregor was described as a "devious coward" and a liar to the jury in a civil case against the fighter. The mixed martial arts fighter is facing an accusation in the civil action he "brutally raped and battered" Nikita Hand at a hotel in south Dublin in December 2018.

The Irish sportsman previously told the court the pair had consesual sex in a penthouse at the Beacon Hotel. Ms Hand, also known as Nikita Ni Laimhin and described as a "marked woman" for standing up to the fighter in court, is also suing another individual, James Lawrence, for assault.

The jury of eight women and four men heard closing arguments in the case at the High Court in Dublin on Tuesday. John Gordon SC, representing Ms Hand, said the jury had witnessed stress, anger, vitriol and “serial lying” during the hearing.

He claimed his client had been “badly beaten up” on December by Mr McGregor at the Beacon Hotel. He said Ms Hand never pretended to be an angel and she was out to have a good time until “things went badly wrong”.

He said Ms Hand, who became visibly emotional and started crying in the courtroom, now lives in fear. Mr Gordon said she had told Mr McGregor she did not want to have sex with him as she had a tampon in, and they were in a friend group with his partner Dee Devlin.

He said Mr McGregor would not take no for an answer. Mr Gordon said aspects of Mr McGregor’s evidence – including claims of “athletic” sex, that Ms Hand had “swan dived” into a bath, and she may have been “knocked about” while being out for three days – did not answer the questions put to him in court.

He said: “You are being sold a pup by this arrogant man.” He added: “Mr McGregor – far from dealing with it – has run away from it.”

Mr Gordon told the jury “there is no answer to his appalling behaviour”. He said there was a “litany of corroborative evidence” confirming his client’s story, adding she suffered from PTSD from a violent assault.

Mr Gordon said Mr McGregor’s case was built on “trying to throw as much dust in your eyes as possible”. His comments came after Remy Farrell, defence barrister for Mr McGregor, said Ms Hand had appeared “happy, happy, happy” on CCTV footage available to the jurors.

Mr Farrell told the jury while many of them had negative views of Mr McGregor, it was their job to methodically consider the evidence rather than relying on a “hot take” or “gut feeling”. He said: “You may have an active dislike of him, some of you may even loathe him – there is no point pretending that the situation might be otherwise.”

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Mr Farrell added: “I’m not asking you to invite him to Sunday brunch.” He said the jury had the benefit of being able to look at CCTV footage of Ms Hand from the immediate aftermath and hours after the alleged rape.

Mr Farrell said the CCTV showed someone “well able” to deflect and lie. He said it showed Ms Hand doing a “victory dance” after sending a text to her boyfriend where she did not say she was at the hotel.

“Then bang, as soon as she knows she has to go home and face the music – that’s when the allegations start,” Mr Farrell added. He said Ms Hand had deleted material from her phone and asked someone else to delete texts.

For Ms Hand, Mr Gordon told the jury: “Of course, cameras don’t lie – but they don’t always tell you the whole story either.” He said it was clear from the footage Ms Hand “was not in good shape”.

Mr Gordon said his client had lied to her boyfriend and deleted material from her phone because she was frightened. Mr Gordon said Ms Hand assisted gardai when they became involved.

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Mr Farrell told the jury Ms Hand had given a “simply invented” account of the alleged rape in her first recollection of the incident to her friend Eimer Brennan after the incident. He said she told Ms Brennan there was no sign of another woman who was present, Danielle Kealey, when she woke up and she left immediately.

Mr Farrell said the footage showed she had not left immediately. He said she had “sought to airbrush Danielle Kealey out of events”, adding Ms Kealey’s evidence did not support Ms Hand’s account.

Mr Gordon said “of course” Ms Hand’s recounting was “a bit all over the place” because she was overwhelmed and suffering from “fragmented memory”. He said: “The liar here is McGregor, who doesn’t have the courage, who doesn’t have the decency to own up to what he did.”

He added: “What he should have done – if he was a man at all – is apologise to my client for what he did to her. “But he’s not a man, he’s a coward. A devious coward and you should treat him for what he is.”

Mr Gordon said Mr McGregor put Ms Hand in a stranglehold and said “now you know what it was like in the octagon where I tapped out three times”. He said Mr McGregor was “in some temper” after losing a fight in Las Vegas months earlier and taking it out on Ms Hand.

And he added: “Whatever you think about her social habits, whatever you think about many aspects – the one thing you know is that she has courage. She had the courage to see it through.” He said the abuse of his client continued throughout the court hearing where there was “arrogant, distasteful and dishonest testimony from the defendant”.

He said Ms Hand no longer resides in the area as “she lives in fear”. He said vindication from the jury would not change the fact “she will live with this for the rest of her days”.

He added: “It doesn’t change the fact that she will always be a marked woman – because she stood up to Conor McGregor”. Mr Gordon told the jury it may be assumed Mr Lawrence is “in cahoots” with Mr McGregor, who he said was paying his legal fees with the same solicitor.

John Fitzgerald SC, for Mr Lawrence, said his client had an entirely consensual sexual encounter with Ms Hand. Mr Justice Alex Owens’ charge to the jury began following closing arguments.

He told the jury he believed the matter was a question of “truth or lies”, adding it was his view “one side or the other is telling lies”. His charge continues on Wednesday morning.

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