THE HIGH COURT has heard evidence from a garda who spoke to Nikita Hand at the Rotunda Hospital Sexual Assault Treatment Unit after she was allegedly sexually assaulted by Conor McGregor and James Lawrence, and from the manager of the salon where Hand worked, and with whom she spoke after the alleged assault.
Nikita Hand (Ní Laimhín) alleges that McGregor (36) “sexually assaulted her, and in effect, raped her” in a hotel penthouse in Dublin on 9 December 2018, and that a second defendant, James Lawrence, of Rafter’s Road, Drimnagh, “did likewise”, Mr Justice Owens told the jury on the first day of the civil trial.
The allegations in the action are fully denied.
The action was brought in 2021 against McGregor. The civil trial is expected to last two weeks.
On the fourth day of the civil trial, Hand rejected suggestions that she had consensual sex with Lawrence on the night in question.
This afternoon, following cross-examination of Hand, the trial heard from Eimer Brennan, the manager of the salon where Hand worked.
She told the court that she was part of the group that went to the Christmas party on Saturday 8 December 2018. She said that after going to The Goat Grill and subsequently back to the salon, she got a taxi home at 7am on Sunday, 9 December 2018.
Brennan said she texted Hand at some point during the day on Sunday to ask her about the keys of the salon, as Hand still had them and Brennan would need them to open the salon the following morning.
Brennan told the court that Hand rang her on the night of 9 December 2018. After asking how the night had gone, Brennan said Hand told her she did not get home and that she was crying.
Brennan said that before Hand arrived at her home, she sent her a text, which she told the court said: “Me and [her friend] went to a hotel last night with Conor McGregor. He raped me, Eimer. I’m battered, I’m broken. How will I explain this to [her former partner]?”.
Brennan said that when Hand arrived at her home, she brought her inside to sit on the couch and she was hugging her and trying to comfort her.
“She looked shook, she looked very upset,” she said.
She said she took off Hand’s coat and could feel bruising on her arms.
She told the court that Hand told her that they had been in the Morgan Hotel. She said she told her that she and McGregor had somehow ended up in the bedroom, that he was “trying it on with me” and she was telling him she was uncomfortable and she did not want to have sex.
Brennan told the court that Hand said she “put up a fight then” and bit McGregor twice, that the second time was harder and that when she did that, he choked her.
“She said that all she could see when he was doing that was her daughter’s face,” Brennan told the court.
Brennan told the court that Hand said she “let him do what he wanted”.
She said Hand told her that when it was “all over”, they were lying on the bed and that she said “I know it’s going to sound weird, but that part was actually nice because I knew the rape was over.”
Brennan told the court that Hand told her that after the alleged assault, two security guards came into the room and she jumped up because she thought she was going to be gang raped and ran out of the room to look for her friend, but couldn’t find her.
She said Hand told her that she asked McGregor’s friend if he turned a blind eye to what he does to women, and the friend had told her that there was nothing he could do about it.
Brennan said Hand told her that she told McGregor’s driver that she wanted to go home, and that he had asked her if McGregor wanted her to leave and she told him yes.
Brennan said Hand told her that when she was leaving the hotel she thought the driver was going to rape her and she ran off and got a taxi.
Brennan said Hand was crying. She said she told her that she had been wearing a tampon and she thought it was still inside her. Brennan said she told Hand that that was very dangerous and that she would need to see a doctor.
Brennan said she told Hand that she was probably going to have to go to the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre so it was probably best not to have a shower. She said Hand asked if she could go with her and Brennan said she was working, but suggested she ask her mother to go with her.
Brennan said Hand took off her jumpsuit. She said she saw bruising on her arms, her thighs, her buttocks, her knee and her knuckle. She said she saw a scrape on her jaw and bruising on her right breast and a scrape.
Brennan said Hand asked her to take photographs of her body and she did. She said she probably took five or six.
Brennan told the court that in the days afterwards, articles began to appear in newspapers and on social media about an alleged assault involving a sports star.
Brennan said that Hand phoned her “frantic” and “worried that it was all out there”. She said she asked her to delete the photographs and she did.
She said Hand came back to work in the salon for a short time and “sort of couldn’t cope and left”.
“She just wasn’t herself anymore,” Brennan said. “Obviously it was in the news and people would be talking about it, not knowing it was her, and she couldn’t stand listening to that.”
Under cross-examination by Remy Farrell SC, for McGregor, Brennan said she took notes of what Hand had told her on the night of 9 December 2018 a few weeks afterwards.
When asked why, Brennan said: “I think when I realised that Nikita was going to go ahead with the case, I knew I was going to be involved in some ways so I thought I’d better write down a few points from the night in case it went out of my head.”
Brennan agreed with counsel for McGregor that Hand had told her that two security guards had come into the room when she woke up and that she was in fear of being gang raped, and that Hand had told her that she was concerned that the driver was going to rape her and ran off.
Brennan agreed that Hand had asked her to delete the text messages and photographs from the night of 9 December 2018. But Farrell put it to her that she told gardaí that she had decided to delete the photographs and text messages after articles appeared on social media about a famous sports star who had allegedly assaulted a woman.
Brennan said she may have told gardaí that she deleted the texts and photographs herself.
“I can’t really remember. I know I deleted them anyway,” she said.
“You can understand I’m under an awful lot of pressure here. Yes, I think she did phone me and say delete messages, but at the time when I was making my statement, I had been frantic about the media attention anyway, so I wanted to delete them anyway,” she told the court.
The final witness to give evidence this afternoon was Detective Sergeant John Ryan, who spoke to Hand at her mother’s home and at the Rotunda Hospital Sexual Assault Treatment Unit (SATU) on the morning of 10 December 2018.
He described Hand as being “extremely distressed” that morning, and gave evidence of the bullet-point notes he took that morning.
Reading from his notebook, Ryan told the court that Hand told him at the SATU that she remembered being raped, that she tried to fight the suspect, that he choked her a few times and that she thought the suspect would kill her, therefore she stopped struggling.
Ryan told the court that Hand told him that she was “terrified” of the suspect, and recorded that she had said “afraid for me and my family”.
Ryan said he took Hand home with two colleagues after her examination at the SATU. He said he invited her to make a statement, but she told him she was not pressing charges.
He said he asked her if she would consent to photographs being taken of her injuries. She said that she would, but not at that time. The photographs were arranged for the following morning. Ryan also told the court that Hand refused to hand over the pyjamas she was wearing.
When asked his impression of Hand, Ryan told the court: “She was extremely upset all throughout it.”
During cross-examination, Farrell, for McGregor, asked Ryan: “In her account, she didn’t say to you that she didn’t remember at that point having being raped?”
Ryan said that it was a very brief account and that he was just taking bullet pointed notes. “She was extremely distressed,” he said.
Farrell asked Ryan if he had asked directly what the name of Hand’s friend who was in the hotel with her and she declined to say. Ryan said this was correct.
Mr Justice Owens asked Ryan if he got the impression that Hand “still had drink on her”.
“She was extremely upset, judge,” Ryan said, adding that she was “hysterically crying” and that he would not describe her as having been drunk at that stage.
The civil trial, before Mr Justice Alexander Owens and a jury of eight women and four men, continues.
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