A WOMAN WHO alleges that Mixed Martial Arts fighter Conor McGregor sexually assaulted her in a Dublin hotel has denied that CCTV footage “flatly contradicts” her version of events.
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 Alexander Owens told the jury on Tuesday.
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 third day of the trial today, Remy Farrell SC, for McGregor, put it to Ms Hand that her friend was in the other room when she claims she was raped on 9 December. He asked if she said or did anything to “tip off” her friend that something had happened to her. Ms Hand said she did not because she didn’t remember at that point.
Farrell put it to her that she had woken up beside a man who was not her partner in a hotel bed after a night out, and that it appeared from the account she had given to the court yesterday that at that stage that she had no memory of being raped. Repeating evidence that she had given earlier in the trial she said she had woken “in a panic” and had asked McGregor the time.
Farrell asked if her primary concern when she woke up was the time of day. Ms Hand said it was “because I had fallen asleep. When I go to a party, it’s strange for me to fall asleep”.
Farrell put it to Ms Hand that the jury had seen CCTV footage of her going down in the lift after the alleged assault at around 6.15pm and being “very affectionate” towards McGregor. Ms Hand said she could not remember that.
Farrell asked if she could remember going down in the lift and going back up to the penthouse with James Lawrence. She said she did not remember what they were doing or saying in the lift.
She said of the CCTV footage: “It’s not me, it’s not my character, I see a very vulnerable woman, a very drunk woman, I should’ve been looked after in that state. I should’ve been brought home.”
Farrell put it to Ms Hand that she appeared to kiss McGregor’s arm in the CCTV footage. Ms Hand said: “I don’t remember that. I don’t remember what I’m doing at that stage.”
Farrell asked if there was any reason for her friend to notice anything untoward. Ms Hand said she could not speak for Danielle.
Farrell put it to her that the last she saw of her friend on the evening of 9 December was her getting into a car “with a man who violently raped you”. Ms Hand said yes.
Asked if she tried to speak to her friend at any stage, Ms Hand said she told her in a text message that she had been raped when she was in the Rotunda Hospital’s Sexual Assault Treatment Unit.
Farrell asked Ms Hand if she had asked her friend to delete the text messages between them. Ms Hand said she probably did “because I told other people to because I was afraid for my life”.
Farrell asked if she also deleted text messages to her friend that asked her to delete the texts.
“I deleted a lot of text messages and I told other people to as well because I didn’t want to press charges and I was afraid,” Ms Hand said.
She agreed with Farrell that she had told gardaí that her friend “doesn’t want to say anything because Conor dropped her home and she is scared because she knows he knows where she lives and I don’t want to force her”.
Farrell asked if she was reluctant for gardaí to speak to her friend.
Ms Hand said: “No, I didn’t mind. I was worried about her because I knew she was scared, so I didn’t want to push her into a decision that would make her frightened in any way because it was about me.”
Farrell put it to Ms Hand that in her evidence, she said she had told the manager of her salon that she had been sexually assaulted. He asked if she was concerned that she had told her something different. Ms Hand said no. “I know I told her I was raped and I had a lot of bruises on my body. I don’t know what type of detail I told her.”
Farrell asked if she remembered telling her that she woke up with two bodyguards coming into the room, or if she remembered telling her that she jumped up and ran out because she thought she were going to be gang raped. Ms Hand said she did not remember telling her this.
Farrell asked if she told the manager of her salon to delete things. Ms Hand accepted that she did.
She also accepted that she deleted her Instagram account after the alleged assault. When asked why, she said: “I didn’t want to be on any more social media because everyone was talking about it and it was in the papers.”
She told gardaí she “deleted Conor from my Instagram, I blocked him”.
Ms Hand said no one had told her to delete her account and that “I deleted it off my own back”. But she later agreed with Farrell that she had previously told gardaí that she got a phone call from a garda at 2am telling her to deactivate her Instagram account as people were looking to take photos from it.
She said: “I didn’t want to have to deal with people trying to take my own personal photographs from my page and sending them to group chats and talking about me.”
Farrell said that of the CCTV that they had seen, a significant part showed her with her mobile phone. He said that despite her suggestion that she was vulnerable, she was clearly able to operate a mobile phone.
Ms Hand said she did not remember any of what was shown in the CCTV.
Farrell said she had texted her partner’s sister and her then-partner, and had made a phone call to McGregor at 6.27pm on the evening of the 9 December.
Ms Hand said she did not remember attempting to call McGregor.
Farrell asked if she was “looking to have a chat” with McGregor. Ms Hand said: “I don’t know why I rang him. There’s a lot of hanging around in the CCTV footage. I know James took my phone on the CCTV footage. I don’t remember any of that.”
She said the CCTV footage “is me but it’s not my character and I don’t remember it and I don’t want to have to look at it again, it’s very disturbing for me.”
Farrell put it to Ms Hand that the reason why it is disturbing for her was that everything in that footage “flatly contradicts the story you’ve told”.
“That CCTV footage does not take away from what happened to me,” Ms Hand said.
“I was brutally raped and battered and that CCTV footage does not take away from what happened to me. I know what happened to me.”
Ms Hand became distressed and asked if she could have a break and the court was adjourned for ten minutes.
When the hearing resumed, Farrell put it to Ms Hand that the reason she was distressed “was because I was asking you questions about the CCTV footage and you found it very hard to look at that footage”.
He said she told the jury yesterday that when she went out, she was not looking for sexual activity or romantic entanglement. “No I wasn’t,” Ms Hand said.
Farrell said the CCTV “appears to suggest that you were interested in romantic entanglement”. Ms Hand said she can’t remember any of it.
The trial continues this afternoon before Mr Justice Alexander Owens and a jury of eight women and four men.
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