A woman who accused Conor McGregor of raping her has won her claim against him for damages in a civil case. From the BBC:
A jury found that the Irish mixed martial arts fighter assaulted Nikita Hand in a Dublin hotel in December 2018.
He has been ordered to pay her more than €248,000 (£206,000) in damages.
Speaking outside the court on Friday, Ms Hand said her story was “a reminder that no matter how afraid you might be to speak up, you have a voice”.
Ms Hand, a mother-of-one, told the court how McGregor had pinned her to a bed before assaulting her.
She was left with extensive bruises and abrasions over her body, including on her hands and wrists.
There was a bloodied scratch on her breast and tenderness on her neck after she said she was placed in a “chokehold” by McGregor.
He denied causing the bruising, saying it could have happened after she “swan dived” into the bath in the hotel room.
Ms Hand was taken in an ambulance to the Rotunda Hospital in Dublin the next day where she was assessed in the sexual assault treatment unit.
A paramedic who examined Ms Hand told the court that she had not seen “someone so bruised” in a long time.
RTÉ reports on how Masked men invaded Nikita Hand’s home earlier this year. From the report:
The woman who accused Conor McGregor and his friend of rape moved this year after her property was invaded by a group of men wearing balaclavas who stabbed her partner and broke her windows, it can now be reported.
Lawyers for Nikita Hand told the High Court before her civil action against Mr McGregor and James Lawrence began that they were not making the claim that Mr McGregor had anything to do with the incident at her house in the Drimnagh area earlier in June.
Mr Justice Owens ruled the evidence was irrelevant to the case and should not go before the jury.
Meanwhile, The Irish News reports that McGregor has been renting a property in Rostrevor the past two weeks:
McGregor had stayed in a luxury lough front house in the village of Rostrevor with his partner Dee Devlin and their three children. A visit to Raymie’s Seafood Bar and Restaurant on Duke Street in Warrenpoint quickly attracted a crowd estimated in the hundreds. He reportedly left a £1,000 tip. McGregor also bought a ticket for Thursday’s St Bronagh’s GAA lotto draw, worth £6,000 this week.
To say McGregor is a controverous figure is an understatement. Many consider him a poster boy for toxic masculinity, and his role in the Dublin riots last year shocked many.
It is important to remember that this was a civil case, not a criminal one. Therefore, be cautious about what you say in the comments.
I help to manage Slugger by taking care of the site as well as running our live events. My background is in business, marketing and IT. My politics tend towards middle-of-the-road pragmatism, I am not a member of any political party. Oddly for a member of the Slugger team, I am not that interested in daily politics, preferring to write about big ideas in society. When not stuck in front of a screen, I am a parkrun Run Director.
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