CONOR MCGREGOR HAS told the High Court that the woman who alleges he sexually assaulted her at a Dublin hotel in 2018 is “full of lies”.
The Mixed Martial Arts fighter told the court today that he had consensual sex with Nikita Hand, and that she was not wearing a tampon during the encounter.
Nikita Hand (Ní Laimhín) alleges that McGregor “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 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 until next week.
This afternoon, on the sixth day of the civil trial, McGregor began his evidence. He was not present in court this morning as he had a “stomach complaint” overnight.
McGregor told the court that he knew Hand as they were both from Dublin 12. He said he did not know her personally, but that he knew of her.
“I seen her around. We would be in the same circles,” he said.
He said Hand followed him on Instagram but that he did not follow her. He said Hand “used to send me messages”. He said in October 2018, she left “a compliment of some sort” under a photo of his that he had uploaded to the social media platform and he said thank you.
McGregor told the court that on 8 December 2018, he would have trained and been resting in his house in the K Club in Kildare afterwards. He said it was a Saturday and he was “keeping my options open”.
He said he became aware of an event happening in the District 8 nightclub in Dublin and he decided to go to it. He said he was planning to have a few drinks so he took a driver. He said “crowds can be intense” in public places so he would have security with him.
He said he went to District 8 with Lawrence and a few friends from the gym. He said at the event, he was invited up onto the stage and he took a picture on the stage with the DJ and the crowd at the event in the background, which he posted on his Instagram Story.
McGregor said Hand responded privately to the picture. He said she sent him a picture of herself and what she was wearing that evening. He described it as a “friendly picture” that was “slightly provocative”. He said Hand began to ask him where he was and let him know she was at her Christmas party “and we began talking then”.
He said he had some drinks in District 8 and stayed there from 11pm to 1am on 9 December. After leaving, he said the group drove around in the car listening to music before deciding to go to Krystle nightclub.
He said he got a table in the nightclub and ordered a round of drinks for the table. He said that cocaine was produced “as the evening got a little bit later”.
McGregor said they remained in Krystle until around 7am on the morning of 9 December 2018.
He said there were two cars at the time and a “multitude” of people, some he had arrived with and some he had met in the nightclub. He said they were trying to “get something going” and were driving around trying to figure out what to do next. He told the court that he found it relaxing to be driven around in a car by somebody else.
McGregor said he had told his security to arrange a hotel room for him in Dublin at that stage, but he was undecided on whether he wanted to bring people back.
“I didn’t let no-one really know I had the room,” he said.
He said the group continued to drive around listening to music until they “began to disperse on their own accord”. He said he could not recall if he dropped Lawrence home or if he left of his own accord.
McGregor told the court that he received “a slew of messages” from Hand throughout the evening but that he “wasn’t really responding” because he was having his own night out.
In these messages, Hand told him ‘We’re in The Goat’, ‘It’s the Christmas party’, and ‘Come out to us’, McGregor said. He said that as it got later, Hand was asking McGregor to ‘come out and get us’.
He said he arrived outside the salon at 10.15am on 9 December 2018, where Hand and her friend Danielle Kealey were. He told the court that at that stage, he was unsure of what to do.
“I was actually of the belief that I was going to their party,” he told the court, saying that he had joked with Hand on the phone about getting his hair done at the salon.
“When they jumped into the car, I was unsure of what to do. I knew of Nikita but I didn’t really know her and I had never seen Danielle,” he said.
He said that when Hand got into the car, “she was very bombastic and very energetic”. Asked about a disagreement with Kealey where she thought he was showing off, McGregor said it wasn’t necessarily a disagreement. He said he was wearing a nice watch and that Kealey “maybe thought I was showing off” and “she began to jeer me and make fun of me”.
He said he was thinking of dropping both Hand and Kealey home at this stage, but that Hand wanted everybody to stay in the car “so we carried on then”.
McGregor told the court that he had known James Lawrence since they were in their late teens. He said they grew up around the same area and that he had been a regular visitor to Lawrence’s house. He said they had “bonded” over the video game Call of Duty, which they would play together with friends in Lawrence’s home.
Asked what made him decide to go to Lawrence’s home, he told the court: “I had two girls, two boisterous ladies full of energy and I needed to level it out and make it a party”.
“They wanted a party and I thought James was perfect,” he said.
He said he arrived at Lawrence’s house and he agreed to join them in the car “somewhat reluctantly”.
He said they were “having a great bit of fun in the car” and that everyone was “laughing and joking” and listening to music. He said they decided to go to the room his security had booked, which was in the Beacon Hotel.
Asked if it was a secret that they were going to the room, McGregor told the court: “Not at all. It was requested.”
He said it was asked of him to “get a party room” and “get drink” and he “was obliging”.
He said that after arriving at the hotel, he believes his driver went inside first to the reception to get the key to the room and check in.
“The mood all the way through the evening was exactly the same. Very fun, very playful, very happy and full of energy,” McGregor told the court.
Asked about the penthouse, he said it was still “broad daylight” outside and that the Dublin Mountains and the M50 could be seen from the window in the room.
He said the room is charged as a penthouse but they were just “two regular hotel rooms” with an interlocking door open between them. One of the rooms had a sofa bed, he said.
McGregor told the court that the door between the two rooms “was fully open at all times”. Asked if the door could be closed, he said: “I don’t believe so.”
McGregor said he remembered that when they first went into the room and were looking around, that Hand “essentially bundled” into the bath. He said he heard a thud and thought she probably hurt herself, but that Hand tried to play it off and pretended to swim. He said he thought it was “a strange one”.
He said that alcohol was ordered when they got to the room and that they connected to the television in the room to play music. He said there was “a bit of chat, bit of music, bit of drink, having fun, getting to know each other”.
He told the court that the party was “in full swing” and that he and Hand “were getting close”.
He said he went into the bathroom in the bedroom of the suite and Hand followed him in. He said he used the toilet and his zip was open.
He said Hand was “in and out” of the bathroom and the bedroom, being “very boisterous, very enthusiastic”.
McGregor told the court that as he began to walk out of the bathroom, he and Hand began to passionately kiss “and it took off from there”. He said Hand performed oral sex on him at that moment. He said they went on to remove their clothes.
He said Lawrence and Kealey were on the sofa bed “three feet away” from the bed in the bedroom of the penthouse. “We were essentially all together,” he said, saying that the interlocking door was open.
He told the court that he and Hand began to have sex. He said it was “fully consensual”, “enthusiastic” and “athletic”, and that they had sex in a number of different positions.
He said that during this, he and Hand could hear Lawrence and Kealey having sex in the next room “so there was a bit of giggling going on”.
“As strange as it was, it was all goodhearted, all happy,” he said.
McGregor told the court that Hand was not wearing a tampon when they allegedly had sex.
“There was no tampon. Not from what I could see in broad daylight. Not from what I could see, not from what I could feel.”
He said there was no discussion of a tampon and that there was no blood.
He told the court that after they had sex, he fell asleep for around two hours and was awoken by Hand and Lawrence holding one of his legs each at the end of the bed. He said they were “having a laugh”.
He said that Hand “propositioned me again”. He said she performed oral sex on him again and that they had sex for a second time, this time with her “solely on top of me”.
Asked about the decision to leave the hotel, McGregor told the court that he had probably decided to leave as soon as he woke up. He said Hand wanted “to keep the party going” but he was ready to leave.
He said there were two cars at the hotel. He said he dropped Kealey home in one car and that he thought Lawrence and Hand would be dropped to their respective homes in the other car.
He told the court that he did not see any bruises on Hand before he left the hotel. Asked if she was distressed, he said: “Not at all. Not an iota of distress was seen.”
McGregor said he became aware of speculation on social media about a sports star who had allegedly raped a woman in the days that followed. He said his initial thoughts were: “It’s definitely not me”.
He said that after he began to hear rumours, he was “shocked and frightened beyond belief”. He described it as “the most scary thing I’ve ever gone through in my life”. He said he wanted to get everything correct, that he was advised to go to his solicitors and that he made “notes” of what happened on the day in question.
He agreed with his counsel that a letter was sent by his solicitor to gardaí on 13 December 2018, in which gardaí were asked to go to the Beacon Hotel and preserve the CCTV footage.
Under cross-examination, John Gordon SC, for Hand, asked McGregor why he didn’t give his phone to gardaí.
“They didn’t ask,” McGregor replied.
“Are you sure?” Gordon asked.
“Positive,” McGregor said.
Asked why he didn’t offer his phone to gardaí, McGregor said he was just taking the advice of his solicitors.
“So your solicitors advised you not to make your phone available, is that correct?” Gordon asked.
McGregor said he was not saying that, and said it never came up.
He said that his phone wasn’t present during the incident. He said he was “upset” that Gardaí did not have his phone and that he wanted “everything to be brought before this court”.
Gordon asked McGregor if he was aware Hand gave her phone to Gardaí. “With deleted messages, yes,” McGregor said.
Gordon put it to McGregor that Hand’s messages had been “used extensively” during his cross-examination. He said that McGregor chose not to make his phone available.
“Yeah and I’m upset over that,” McGregor said.
“Would you like to give it now?” Gordon said, referring to McGregor’s phone.
“Yeah, it’s a different phone, but if you want it, pal,” McGregor said.
Gordon then referred to McGregor’s Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) match against Khabib Nurmagomedov in Las Vegas on 6 October 2018.
He put it to McGregor that if a UFC fighter finds themselves in distress during a match, that they can surrender by tapping three times.
“Not necessarily three times,” McGregor said.
He agreed with Gordon that tapping was one of the ways a match could be stopped, and that when this is done, the referee stops the match and the player who taps concedes the fight.
McGregor told the court that he had been put in a “neck crank” during the fight against Nurmagomedov and that he was beaten in the fourth round.
“You were basically put in a headlock?” Gordon said.
“To the untrained eye,” McGregor said.
Gordon said McGregor had to stop the fight by tapping. He asked if it was a distressing event.
“It’s a sporting event. You win some, you lose some in the martial arts game,” McGregor said.
Gordon said that Hand had described McGregor putting her in an arm lock.
“Your client is full of lies. Everything is a lie,” McGregor replied.
Gordon said Hand also said that McGregor said to her, ‘Now you know how I felt in the Octagon when I tapped three times’.
“How anyone could believe that as a prideful person, to highlight my shortcoming. It’s not in my nature. It’s a full-blown lie,” McGregor said.
Gordon put it to McGregor that he had heard the medical evidence at the trial, including evidence that Hand was found to have bruising on her neck. McGregor said he heard the doctor from the Rotunda Hospital Sexual Assault Treatment Unit “say that it was consistent with a lovebite”.
Gordon put it to McGregor that he had heard the recording made by Hand’s former partner in which she referred to her throat being hoarse. McGregor said there was a lot in the recording and that he did not think her voice sounded hoarse.
“Where do you think she got all the bruises?” Gordon asked.
McGregor said he believed she got some of the bruising from having “swan-dived into the bath” and from being “out for three days”.
“I’ll tell you where she didn’t get them, from me,” McGregor said.
He said that the consensual sex between them was “vigorous”, “prolonged” and in “a multitude of positions”. He said that during this, he had his hands on her hips, her buttocks and the back of her legs. He said at no time did he have his arms around her neck, that she did not bite him and that he did not scrape her.
“The sex was not rough, it was physical. It was not rough in any way,” he said.
Referring to the photographs taken of Hand by gardaí the morning after her visit to the Rotunda SATU, Gordon asked McGregor if he had caused any of the bruising on her body.
McGregor said he did not.
Referring to the scrape on Hand’s right breast, Gordon put it to McGregor that the scrape was caused when Hand was “pressed down to such an extent that her watch scraped her breast”.
“Not by me,” McGregor said.
McGregor said the scrape could have been caused by “a multitude of things”.
Gordon put it to McGregor that the scratch could only be consistent with McGregor pressing Hand down.
“I disagree,” McGregor said.
He repeated that the sex was fully consensual and that there was “not an iota of distress” from Hand.
Gordon asked McGregor if it was the worst case of bruising he had ever seen in his career. McGregor said no.
Gordon asked McGregor if it was the worst case of bruising he had ever seen on a woman. McGregor said no.
Referring to the tampon, Gordon said that while McGregor’s evidence is that Hand was not wearing one, “we know there was one”.
McGregor said there was no tampon when he was present. He said it was broad daylight and there was no blood.
“If there was, if she was in her cycle, I would not have had sex with Nikita Hand,” he said.
Asked for his view on where the tampon came from, McGregor said: “It wasn’t there when I was there.”
Gordon asked if he was implying that the tampon was introduced after McGregor had consensual sex with Hand. “It must have been,” McGregor said.
Gordon put it to McGregor that Hand’s evidence had been that she would not have sex with somebody while she was on her period.
“Likewise,” McGregor said.
Earlier this afternoon, the court heard from Danielle Kealey, Hand’s colleague who was present at the hotel with her, McGregor and Lawrence. She told the court that she was “surprised” when Hand told her she had been raped.
She told the court that she didn’t know Hand that well because she worked in the salon in Naas while Hand worked in the one in Goatstown.
She said she attended the Christmas party with Hand and the other employees from the salon on the night of 8 December 2018. She told the court that Conor McGregor’s name was mentioned “towards the end of the night” after they had gone back to the salon in the early hours of 9 December 2018.
She told the court that she knew Hand had spoken to McGregor on Instagram that evening but that she didn’t see the messages or know the specifics of it. She said in the early hours of the morning of 9 December, it was arranged that McGregor would collect them from the salon.
She said McGregor collected both of them at the salon and that they “drove around for a little while” before they went to pick up Lawrence.
She said they then went on to the hotel. She said she did not know what hotel it was or where it was at the time.
Asked to describe the mood in the penthouse, Kealey said that “everything was fine” and that everyone was in good form.
She told the court that she remembers Hand and McGregor going into the bedroom, but said: “I don’t know much about it, I just know they went into the other room.”
She said she did not know what was happening in the room, and that when Hand returned to the main room of the penthouse, “everything was fine”.
“Everything was fine. No one was in bad form or anything. I didn’t notice anything had happened,” Kealey said.
Asked if anyone appeared upset at any stage, she said “no”.
Asked if she noticed any bruising on anyone or marks on McGregor’s face, she said “no”.
Kealey said she had consensual sex once with Lawrence in the sitting room area of the penthouse and that they used a condom.
Asked if there was any discussion about how they would get home, Kealey said her phone was broken and she asked McGregor if she could go with him because they lived near each other.
Asked when she next heard from Hand, Kealey said she was contacted by her in the days after the alleged assault. She said Hand texted her on Instagram and then called her when she was in the Rotunda Hospital SATU.
She told the court that Hand told her that she had been raped.
Asked for her reaction to this, Kealey said she was “surprised”.
“I told her I hadn’t seen or heard anything,” she told the court.
She also told the court that Hand had asked her to delete these text messages between the two of them
The civil trial, before Mr Justice Alexander Owens and a jury of eight women and four men, continues tomorrow.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say