A woman who accused Conor McGregor of raping her has said “justice has been served” after she won her civil case against the Irish mixed martial arts fighter.
Nikita Hand has been awarded €248,603 (£206,000) in damages after a jury at Dublin’s High Court found McGregor assaulted her in a Dublin hotel in 2018.
McGregor, 36, made no comment as he swiftly left court following the decision on Friday evening.
He later said in a statement that he had instructed his legal team to appeal the civil court’s decision, adding he was “disappointed that the jury did not hear all the evidence that the director of public prosecutions reviewed”.
He ended the statement saying: “I am with my family, focused on my future.”
McGregor had previously told the court he had consensual sex with Ms Hand in a penthouse at the Beacon Hotel in December 2018.
‘No matter who the person is, justice will be served’
Speaking outside court after the decision, an emotional Ms Hand said the last two weeks of her civil case against the fighter have been a “nightmare” and has impacted not only her life but her daughter’s, friends and loved ones.
“I would like to start off by saying I’m overwhelmed and touched by the support I have received from everybody,” the mother-of-one said.
“It’s something that I’ll never forget for the rest of my life.
“Now that justice has been served, I can now try and move on and look forward to the future with my family and friends and daughter.”
Ms Hand said the civil case had been a ‘nightmare’. Pic: Brian Lawless/PA
Ms Hand continued: “I hope my story is a reminder that no matter how afraid you might be: Speak up, you have a voice and keep on fighting for justice.
“You can stand up for yourself if something happens to you – no matter who the person is – and justice will be served.”
Ms Hand told the civil court McGregor pinned her to a bed, choked her three times and “brutally raped and battered” her.
The jury was told she was left with extensive injuries, including purple and blue bruising along her hands and wrists, a bloodied scratch to her breast and tenderness to her neck.
McGregor no longer known for just his sporting abilities
There was not an inch to move in this tiny civil courtroom in centre Dublin.
The jury sat for six hours and 10 minutes, determining the future of one of Ireland’s biggest stars.
You could cut the tension with a knife.
McGregor sat stoney faced taking intermittent, deep heavy breaths as the clerk of the court declared the jury had reached their decision.
The judge sternly told the public gallery he would “jail” anyone who caused a scene when the news came out.
It was a sign of the high stakes in this case.
Within 40 seconds, the judge read out the news that McGregor was dreading, and Nikita Hand was determined to get.
“Did Conor McGregor assault Nikita Hand?”
“Yes” came the reply.
The blood drained from McGregor’s face. His head in his hands.
As the MMA star stepped out of court, he entered a new era. He walked straight to his Bentley, ignoring questions from reporters about whether he feels remorse.
He is no longer just a household name for his sporting abilities.
But lawyers for the fighter contested the lawsuit and accused her of attempted “extortion”.
They pointed to CCTV footage of Ms Hand arriving at and leaving the hotel with McGregor and a second man, James Lawrence, whom she also accused of assault.
Both McGregor and Lawrence denied any wrongdoing. While Ms Hand won her case against McGregor, she lost her claim against Lawrence.
Break-in at home
At the start of the trial – when no jury was present – the court heard a group of masked men broke into Ms Hand’s home, smashed windows and stabbed her boyfriend on 14 June.
Ms Hand’s counsel John Gordon said they were not “laying that at the feet of the defendants or saying they have anything to do with that”.
“We do make the claim that it was not an untargeted attack, (it) rose from supporters of the first named defendant (McGregor),” he added.
“It is related to the claim that she had to move out of the Drimnagh area.”
The judge ruled it to be “completely irrelevant and shouldn’t be referred to” during the trial.
On Monday, McGregor’s legal team told jurors it did not matter if they did not like or even loathed the famous fighter, urging them to look at the evidence and not his character.
McGregor and Ms Hand knew each other and had occasionally been in contact on social media, the civil trial heard.
Before the assault, Ms Hand had contacted the fighter, who picked up her and a friend in his car.
McGregor “came on to her”, but she did not want to have sexual intercourse with him as she was on her period, the court heard.
