UFC star McGregor loses appeal in civil rape case

Conor McGregor lost his civil jury’s appeal after the jury concluded that he sexually assaulted a woman.

Nikita Hand, who claimed he raped her in a hotel in Dublin in 2018, was ordered to pay £204,000 in damages and costs in November.

McGregor filed an appeal because his attorneys argued that the jury should not have heard what he said to the police during interviews.

The appeal was rejected on all grounds by three senior judges at Dublin’s Court of Appeal.

Conor McGregor was not present for the decision in court.

Numerous supporters and Nikita Hand were present for the hearing.

The court determined that McGregor’s attorneys had not established “a real risk of unfair trial” in relation to the police interviews.

The jury was informed that McGregor repeatedly said “no comment” when he was being interviewed by police during the first instance.

Conor McGregor was charged with assaulting Ms. Hand in the trial paper.

According to McGregor’s attorneys, “sexual assault” rather than “assault” should have been the phrase.

However, the appeal judges argued that it was “simply unreal” to suggest that any jury member might have been confused about the question’s significance.

They decided unanimously that McGregor’s appeal should be dismissed “in its entirety.”

James Lawrence, McGregor’s friend, lost his case against the jury’s finding that he did not assault Nikita Hand, as well.

Conor McGregor and James Lawrence both raped her, according to Ms. Hand in her argument.

Ms. Hand expressed gratitude for the assistance she received throughout the civil action while speaking outside of court.

She said, “This appeal has repeatedly traumatized me, and the experience that occurred has had a significant impact on me.”

I understand how difficult it is, but Ms. Hand urged people to not be silenced.

The appeal was based on a number of issues raised by the last year’s civil trial at Dublin’s High Court.

The question “did Conor McGregor assault Nikita Hand?” was one of the references. “being questioned on the issue paper by the jury.”

According to Conor McGregor’s attorneys, sexual assault should have been a part of the contract.

However, a Ms. Hand barrister claimed that “assault covers a wide range of assaults adding that what we were dealing with was rape.”

He continued, “The jury couldn’t have been confused by the question that was put to them,” and that it had been agreed.

McGregor was also raising concerns about how his answers were handled in interviews with garda (Irish police officers).

His attorneys claimed that McGregor gave the jury “no comment” answers to garda and that he gave roughly 100.

His attorney claimed that he had the right to keep quiet during police interviews, and that the jury could infer a negative conclusion from this statement.

An application to discharge the jury would have been filed, Ms. Hand’s legal team countered this claim by saying, “sir, if this was such a serious issue for McGregor at the time, it would have been.”

According to her barrister, no such application was made.

Former neighbors of Nikita Hand, Samantha O’Reilly and Steven Cummins, who were the witnesses, provided the evidence.

A previous preliminary hearing was informed that they had previously alleged that Ms. Hand and her ex-partner Stephen Redmond had gotten into a fight in December 2018.

According to the court, McGregor believed that Nikita Hand’s former partner may have caused the bruise on her body.

Ms. Hand had characterized the allegations as lies and untrue in an affidavit.

The senior judges claimed that what they termed an “important and contentious” “part of the appeal had been” cast aside, and that it was “somewhat mysterious.”