A High Court jury has awarded €248,603 damages to a woman against Conor McGregor after finding she was assaulted by him in a Dublin hotel.
Nikita Hand had alleged, in her civil action for damages, she was raped by the Mixed Martial Arts star in the Beacon hotel on December 9th, 2018.
He “would not take no for an answer”, the 35-year old mother of one told the jury.
Mr McGregor had denied her claim and told the jury they had “athletic” and “fully-consensual sex”.
The jury found James Lawrence (35), of Rafter’s Road, Drimnagh, had not assaulted Ms Hand through allegedly having sex with her without her consent in the Beacon hotel.
Mr Lawrence had said in his evidence they had consensual sex twice. Ms Hand said she had no memory of that and described it as “a made-up story”.
During cross-examination, Mr Lawrence, whose legal fees the jury heard were being paid by Mr McGregor, denied he was a “fall-guy” in relation to the allegation Mr McGregor had raped Ms Hand.
[ ‘I know what happened in that room’: the full story of the Conor McGregor case ]
The verdicts came on the 12th day of the case, which opened on November 5th.
Legal sources have estimated the costs of the action, initiated by Ms Hand in October 2020, as around €1.5m. Costs issues will be addressed next Thursday.
Speaking outside the court after the verdict, Ms Hand said: “I want to thank my daughter Freya who I am 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 my reminder that no matter how afraid you might be, speak up, you have a voice and keep on fighting for justice.”
Taking questions from reporters, Ms Hand described the last two weeks of the court case as a “nightmare”. Asked what it is like to be believed, Ms Hand said: “I have no words – it is unbelievable.”
She said she felt vindicated in taking the case against the MMA fighter.
Mr McGregor said in a statement on social media on Friday evening that he would appeal the verdict. “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,” he said in a post on X.
The jury of eight women and four men began considering their verdict about 3pm on Thursday before being sent home at 4pm. They resumed their deliberations at 10am on Friday which they continued, with 30 minutes for lunch, until about 4.50pm.
They had deliberated for six hours and 10 minutes.
The court was packed for the verdict. Mr McGregor was accompanied by his fiancée Dee Devlin and his parents. Ms Hand was in court with her partner Gary.
Just before the jury came into court, Mr Justice Owens said he wanted “calm” for the verdict. “Anyone who makes a scene will find themselves in jail,” he said.
The verdict was greeted in silence. After the judge and jury left, a tearful Ms Hand was hugged by her partner and friends.
The jury were asked to answer ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to separate questions asking whether Mr McGregor assaulted Ms Hand and whether Mr Lawrence assaulted Ms Hand.
If they answered ‘yes’ in the case of either man, they were to proceed to assess damages including general damages for assault; special damages in the form of medical expenses; damages for past and future loss of earnings and aggravated damages.
The damages award included about €60,000 in general damages and €188,000 special damages. The jury did not award any aggravated or punitive damages.
Ms Hand, whom the jury heard was diagnosed with PTSD in December 2020, said, due to the impact of the alleged assaults, she had been unable to return to her work as a hair colourist. She returned to work for a time after the alleged assaults but was certified unfit to work in May 2019 and later had part-time employment for some 10 months as a cleaner.
She said, after the alleged assaults, she felt uneasy about living in Drimnagh where she had bought a house, valued at €430,000 and subject to a mortgage, with her ex-partner. She is now living elsewhere.
Before the jury began considering their verdict, Mr Justice Owens told them Ms Hand had to prove her case on the balance of probabilities and they should consider all the evidence.
If they got to the stage of considering damages, which depended on their finding that either or both men assaulted Ms Hand, they were entitled to consider rape, cover-ups or untruthful evidence as very serious, he said.
In addressing the issue of consent to sexual activity, the judge said consent is a “two-way street”. They jury should be cautious about drawing conclusions about what they think a person alleging sexual assault should or should not have done, he said. A person subject to stressful event such as rape may respond to that in ways that might seem irrational, especially if “befuddled by consumption of intoxicants”, he said.
During eight days of evidence, the jury heard Ms Hand and a work colleague, Danielle Kealey went to the hotel with Mr McGregor and Mr Lawrence in Mr McGregor’s car, arriving at 12.30pm on December 9th, 2018.
CCTV showed Mr McGregor leaving with Ms Kealey about 6.15pm and Ms Hand leaving with Mr Lawrence about 10.30pm.
Ms Hand and Ms Kealey had been partying from the evening of Saturday, December 8th, into the morning of December 9th, and had consumed alcohol and cocaine.
Mr McGregor and Mr Lawrence were separately partying in Dublin nightclubs and consumed alcohol. Mr McGregor said cocaine was also available. Mr Lawrence said he has never taken cocaine.
In her evidence, Ms Hand said she had told Mr McGregor she did not want to have intercourse, she felt uncomfortable and referred to them having mutual friends, but he would “not take no for an answer”. She was wearing a tampon at the time and would not have sex during her period, she said.
She said she had no memory of having sex later with Mr Lawrence.
Mr McGregor denied rape and said he and Ms Hand had “fully consensual”, “vigorous”, “athletic” sex. He said he was shocked when later shown photos of bruising on Ms Hand and that he had not caused them. He said there was no tampon and no discussion of one.
Mr Lawrence said he had consensual sex twice with Ms Hand using condoms and had seen no marks on her other than a small bruise which he said she had pointed out to him. He denied she had asked him “do youse all put a blind eye to what Conor does to women?”
In closing the case for Ms Hand, John Gordon SC told the jury Mr McGregor subjected her to a “savage” and “violent” assault and was a “devious coward” who did “not have the decency to own up to what he did”.
A doctor who examined Ms Hand in the Rotunda hospital sexual assault unit the day after the alleged assault had said hers was one of the worst cases he had seen and he never previously had to deal with a case where a tampon was wedged up into a woman’s vagina, counsel said.
