A woman suing Conor McGregor and another man for damages over alleged rape in a Dublin hotel has finished giving her evidence at the High Court after four days in the witness box, telling the court: “I know what happened in that room.”
Mother of one Nikita Hand had been giving evidence in the civil trial, alleging mixed martial arts star Mr McGregor “brutally raped and battered” her in a Dublin hotel six years ago.
Ms Hand, a hair colourist, is seeking damages from Mr McGregor and James Lawrence, of Rafter’s Road, Drimnagh, Dublin 12, arising from the events of December 9th, 2018, at the penthouse suite of the Beacon Hotel in Dublin where she alleges she was raped.
Both Mr McGregor and Mr Lawrence deny the allegations.
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At the High Court on Friday, Ms Hand was shown CCTV footage from the Beacon Hotel from December 9th, 2018, but said she had no memory of large amounts of her time there.
Ms Hand is shown to be in a lift with Mr Lawrence at 6.51pm on the evening of the alleged rape, which she claims happened earlier in the afternoon. The court has heard Mr McGregor and a woman friend of Ms Hand left the hotel after 6pm.
Mr John Fitzgerald SC, for Mr Lawrence, put it to Ms Hand, who is seen in the lift carrying a drink, that she “doesn’t look like someone who has been violently raped” as, he said, she was being “affectionate” towards Mr Lawrence in “biting his ear and kissing him”.
Ms Hand told Mr Fitzgerald she had no memory of being in the lift with Mr Lawrence on that occasion.
Mr Fitzgerald put it to Mr Hand that she, Mr Lawrence and a driver left the hotel at about 7pm and returned at 7.30pm via the car park but Ms Hand again said she had no memory of leaving or coming back to the hotel.
Counsel said that at 10.17pm, Ms Hand and Mr Lawrence are seen hugging and leaving the hotel for the final time arm in arm, to which Ms Hand again said she had no memory of doing so.
“You don’t look like someone distressed by being violently raped earlier,” said Mr Fitzgerald. “I am drunk and stumbling off walls. I don’t agree with you,” said Ms Hand.
Mr Fitzgerald said Ms Hand had told gardaí that she was “not at all” attracted to Mr Lawrence but said Ms Hand was acting in a “playful” manner on CCTV towards Mr Lawrence on the night which “looks like the opposite”.
“I am going to just tell you I can’t remember,” said Ms Hand. The plaintiff said she saw herself on CCTV but had “no memory” of the images because her “mind was gone, I was completely drunk, my mind went”.
Mr Fitzgerald put it to Ms Hand that when Mr Lawrence and she left the hotel for 20 minutes before returning that they had been “kissing and decided to go back to the room to continue the intimacy”, which Ms Hand denied.
Counsel further put it to Ms Hand that she and Mr Lawrence’s kissing “developed to the point where you had consensual sex and used a condom and another for sex again”, which Ms Hand denied.
“I think that is a made-up story,” said Ms Hand.
Mr Fitzgerald put it to Ms Hand that she was trying to “edit James Lawrence out of this [case]” by saying she had no memory because it was “not a good look” for Ms Hand to have consensual sex with a friend of Mr McGregor after accusing Mr McGregor of raping her.
“I know what happened in that room,” said Ms Hand.
Ms Hand said gardaí had taken the clothes and underwear she was wearing and that they had been damaged by Mr McGregor pulling at them when he allegedly raped her.
Regarding Mr Lawrence’s claim that he had consensual sex with the plaintiff, Ms Hand said she was not attracted to Mr Lawrence who, she said, had seen her crying and her bruises. “I would not have consented,” added Ms Hand.
Eimear Brennan was Ms Hand’s manager at the salon when staff went for their Christmas party on December 8th before they returned to the salon where staff drank and played music until about 7am.
Ms Brennan said Ms Hand rang to say she would be at Ms Brennan’s home on the night of December 9th and told her she was with Mr McGregor in a hotel and alleged that he raped her.
Ms Brennan said Ms Hand had texted her on the way to Ms Brennan’s home to say she was “black and blue and broken”.
Once inside, Ms Hand took off her jacket and Ms Brennan said she could see bruising on Ms Hand’s arm.
Ms Brennan said the plaintiff told her Mr McGregor had choked her three times, letting her go each time to breathe, and that she had given up fighting and biting the defendant and “let him do what he wanted to her” because “all she could see was her daughter’s face”.
Ms Brennan took photos of some of the injuries but later deleted them and texts from Ms Hand at the plaintiff’s request.
Det Sgt John Ryan said he had made notes of two meetings with Ms Hand, once at her mother’s house and again when the plaintiff was speaking to a doctor at the sexual assault treatment unit on the morning of Monday, December 10th, 2018.
Det Sgt Ryan said Ms Hand was “extremely distressed” and said she was afraid her attacker would kill her.
The garda said that later that day he asked Ms Hand to make a statement but Ms Hand said she was terrified and would not be pressing charges. Ms Hand did go to gardaí in January 2019 but was “devastated” when the Director of Public Prosecutions decided not to criminally prosecute either man because there was “no reasonable prospect” of convictions.
Earlier, the jury at the civil trial told the judge they saw somebody pointing a mobile phone at them on Thursday from the upstairs public gallery and were worried that any photos or filming would be “circulated”.
Recording and photography is prohibited in the court area, said Mr Justice Alexander Owens, who then sent a garda to the gallery.
“It is a contempt of court to take photos of the jury – it is totally unacceptable – and there will be steps taken in the event that anyone is suspected of that,” said Mr Justice Owens, who was hearing the fourth day of evidence in the trial.
The trial continues on Tuesday.
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