Thursday, November 14, 2024 - Conor McGregor has said the woman accusing him of r@pe is 'full of lies', and has insisted that none of the bruises covering her body was caused by him.
The Irish mixed martial arts (MMA) champion told the High
Court he had s3x with Nikita Hand twice in the penthouse of the four-star
Beacon Hotel in Dublin in December 2018, and that she was 'enthusiastic' and
'boisterous'.
He denied holding her in a chokehold, or making reference to
a previous fight he had lost three months before, and said that being accused
of rape was 'frightening'.
'My life is on the line,' he said.
Mr McGregor and his friend James Lawrence have both been
sued for damages by hairdresser Nikita Hand, 35, from Drimnagh, Dublin, who
alleged they both raped her in the hotel following a cocaine- and
alcohol-fuelled after-party. Both have denied her allegation and claimed the
sex was consensual.
Asked about her extensive bruising, Mr. McGregor said he had
initially been shocked by the photographs shown to him by gardaí, 'but when I
started to piece it together, not so much'.
He said that she had flung herself fully clothed into a bath
with a 'thud' and a 'swan dive' when they first entered the suite and that they
had later enjoyed 'physical, vigorous, athletic and prolonged' sex in a number
of positions.
'The sex was not rough. It was physical. It was not rough in
any way,' he said.
Mr McGregor also suggested that the hairdresser - then aged
29 - could have bruised herself at other times between going out for her work
Christmas party on Saturday, December 8, meeting him on the following day and
going to the Rotunda Hospital on Monday, December 10.
The court heard that she was drinking heavily and had taken
cocaine, which Mr McGregor had brought to his car in a bag.
He said he had been surprised at the evidence of the
advanced paramedic who examined Ms Hand on December 10, and who told the court
she had never seen such severe bruising before.
He said he thought that was strange, given her profession.
Asked by Ms Hand's barrister, John Gordon, if he had seen
such bruising on a woman before himself, he said he had.
He denied having held Ms Hand in a headlock, or choking her
three times, as she has claimed.
Mr McGregor agreed that he had forfeited a major fight in
October 2018, having been held in a neck crank by his opponent - which he said
would look like a headlock 'to the untrained eye'.
However, he denied her claim that he told her she now knew
how he had felt during a fight in the octagon, when he had to tap out. But he
said: 'No prideful person like me would highlight my shortcomings. It's not in
my nature. It's a full-blown lie.'
Mr Gordon asked: 'You are saying she is so devious she made
up a patent lie?' 'Yes,' he replied. 'It's a lie, and it's almost a fantasy. In
my head, it feels like a fantasy.'
Asked if he had been listening to the medical evidence about
bruising around Ms Hand's neck, he said he had heard the 'SATU guy' - the
doctor from the hospital's sexual assault treatment unit - say that a mark on
her neck 'could have been a love bite'. Of the choking allegation, he said: 'It
was not nice to hear, but it's a lie, an absolute lie.'
Mr McGregor agreed with his own barrister, Remy Farrell,
that there had been a 'lot of chatter' on social media following his day at the
Beacon Hotel, concerning an alleged assault involved a sports star. He said:
'It's definitely not me, was my initial thought. Then I started hearing
rumours. I was shocked and frightened. It was beyond belief.
'It was the most scary thing I had ever gone through.'
When he learned Ms Hand had made a statement to gardaí
alleging rape, he said: 'It was obviously a very frightening experience. My
life is on the line.' He said he 'wanted to do everything correctly', and
immediately contacted a solicitor, and took notes of everything that had
happened.
Asked why he had not handed over his phone to gardaí, he
said: 'They didn't ask.'
He agreed his solicitors had asked the gardaí to obtain CCTV
from the hotel, but said he was 'upset' more evidence about the events of the
day had not been looked for. In a sudden outburst, he said: 'I want every drib
of evidence to be here. I want the taxi driver to say your client was
frolicking, sucking f***ing d***, this is crazy.'
Judge Alexander Owens intervened, asking him to moderate his
language. Mr McGregor said that on Saturday, December 8, he was relaxing after
training at his home at the K Club in Straffan, Co. Kildare. He heard District
8 nightclub in Dublin was having a closing party, and asked his driver/security
guard to bring him in.
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