LAST UPDATE | 1 Nov 2019

UFC FIGHTER CONOR McGregor has been ordered to pay a fine of €1,000 after pleading guilty to the assault of a man at a Dublin pub.

The mixed martial arts fighter faced a single charge of assaulting Desmond Keogh at the Marble Arch Pub on Benbulbin Road in Drimnagh at about 2.30pm on 6 April.

In court this afternoon, 31-year-old McGregor apologised to the victim, who was not present, and told the court that there will be no repeat incident.

“What I did was very wrong and I’d like to apologise again to the injured party and today before the court and assure you that nothing of this nature will happen again,” McGregor said. 

Earlier this morning, McGregor’s solicitor Michael Staines told the court that his client was pleading guilty. 

Judge Treasa Kelly adjourned the case until 2pm this afternoon to allow the court to view CCTV footage of the incident. 

Garda Jason O’Carroll of Crumlin Garda Station said McGregor had 18 previous convictions, most of them road traffic offences. Two related to assaults.

Staines said these offences were “going back a long time” to when McGregor was aged 19 and 20. 

Providing the court with a summary of the incident, Garda O’Carroll said that the injured party had been drinking in the bar when McGregor and two of his security team entered.

O’Carroll said that the victim recognised McGregor from newspaper articles but that the pair were not known to one another.

The garda told the court that McGregor took a bottle of whiskey from behind the bar as well as two glasses and began offering the whiskey to patrons but that Keogh refused.

He said McGregor slammed a glass down on the counter and made an approach towards Keogh before being stopped by the two men he was with.

O’Carroll said McGregor is then seen talking to another man before punching Keogh “in the left hand side of the face with a closed fist” while the victim was looking the other way.

The garda said that the victim did not suffer any injuries from the assault but had a sore face.

Footage

CCTV footage of the April assault in the Marble Arch Pub emerged in August and was widely circulated on social media.

This was shown in court this afternoon before the sentence was handed down. 

McGregor’s solicitor had earlier told the court that there was no need for the court to view the footage but counsel for the State told the court that it wished the footage to be shown. 

The victim was not present in court and the court was told that he had accepted an apology and did not wish to make a victim impact statement. 

Judge Kelly had said the court wished to see a victim impact statement but solicitor Stephanie Doyle for the State said it accepted a signed letter from the victim that he did not wish to make one. 

Asking for leniency, Staines said that McGregor was a professional sportsperson who primarily fought in the United States. He said McGregor was training for a fight at the end of January and that a conviction could potentially cause his client problems in obtaining a visa. 

He added that McGregor’s “whole career would be in jeopardy in the case of a conviction” and asked the court to take account of all this. 

Staines said that in his experience he has not been aware of an occasion when such an assault led to the court being shown CCTV footage after a guilty plea. 

“Mr McGregor should not be treated any better but certainly not treated any worse,” Staines said. 

In sentencing McGregor, the judge noted McGregor’s earlier plea and said “he has shown remorse”. 

The judge also inquired whether compensation had already been paid to the victim. Staines confirmed that it had and the judge said she did not need to know what the amount was. 

She said that she is convicting McGregor and ordering him to pay a fine of €1,000 within one month. 

Arriving in court

Dressed in a navy suit, McGregor arrived at the court building at 10.05 am and his case was called at 11.07 am.

Fans took selfies with McGregor as he walked towards the court building and others tried to take pictures with him inside.

McGregor plead guilty to the charge under section two of the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act, which carries a maximum sanction of six months in prison and/or a fine of €1,500.