Conor McGregor has said the woman who claims to have raped her is “full of lies” and has insisted none of the bruises covering her body were caused by him.
The mixed martial arts (MMA) champion told the High Court he had sex 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 strangling her or making reference to a previous fight he had lost three months earlier, and said being accused of rape was “terrifying”.
“My life is at stake,” he said.
McGregor and his friend James Lawrence have been sued for damages by hairdresser Nikita Hand, 35, from Drimnagh, Dublin, who alleged the pair raped her at the hotel after an after-party at which they consumed cocaine and alcohol. Both denied her accusation and stated that the sex was consensual.
When asked about his numerous bruises, McGregor said he had initially been surprised by the photographs gardaí showed him, “but when I started to piece it together, not so much.”
He said she had thrown herself fully clothed into a bathtub with a “thud” and a “swan dive” when they first entered the suite and that they had then enjoyed “physical, vigorous, athletic and prolonged” sex on several occasions. positions. .
‘The sex wasn’t hard. It was physical. “It wasn’t difficult by any means,” he said.
Conor McGregor leaves the High Court for the case against him on November 13
McGregor and his friend James Lawrence have been sued for damages by hairdresser Nikita Hand, 35, from Drimnagh, Dublin.
McGregor also suggested the hairdresser, then 29, may have injured herself at other times between going out to the work Christmas party on Saturday, December 8, meeting him the next day and visiting the Rotunda Hospital on Monday. December 10. .
The court heard she drank heavily and had taken cocaine, which McGregor had taken to his car in a bag.
He said he had been surprised by the testimony of the advanced paramedic who examined Ms Hand on December 10, who told the court he had never seen such severe bruising before.
He said that seemed strange, given his profession.
When Ms. Hand’s lawyer, John Gordon, asked him if he had seen such bruises on a woman before him, he said yes.
He denied putting Ms Hand in a headlock or strangling her three times, as she claimed.
McGregor agreed he had lost a major fight in October 2018 after his opponent held him in a neck crank, which he said would look like a headlock “to the untrained eye.”
However, he denied her claim that she had told him that she now knew how he had felt during a fight in the octagon, when he had to tap. But he said: ‘No proud person like me would highlight my flaws. It’s not in my nature. It’s a complete lie.
Mr. Gordon asked, “Are you saying she’s so devious that she made up a blatant lie?” “Yes,” he replied. ‘It’s a lie and it’s almost a fantasy. In my head, it feels like a fantasy.”
When asked if he had been listening to medical evidence about the bruising around Mrs Hand’s neck, he said he had heard the “SATU guy” – the doctor at the hospital’s sexual assault treatment unit – say that a mark on his neck ‘could have been a love bite’. Of the suffocation allegation, he said: “It wasn’t pleasant to hear, but it’s a lie, an absolute lie.”
McGregor agreed with his own lawyer, Remy Farrell, that there was “a lot of chatter” on social media after his day at the Beacon Hotel, about an alleged assault involving a sports star. He said, “It’s definitely not me,” was my initial thought. Then I started hearing rumors. I was shocked and scared. It was beyond belief.
“It was the scariest thing I’d ever been through.”
Conor McGregor with his father Tony McGregor (left) outside the High Court in Dublin
DNA samples matching the profile of MMA fighter Conor McGregor were found on the body, underwear and clothing of Nikita Hand, the woman who accuses him of rape, the High Court heard
When he learned that Ms Hand had made a statement to gardaí alleging rape, he said: “It was obviously a very frightening experience.” My life is at stake.’ He said he “wanted to do everything right,” and immediately contacted a lawyer and took notes of everything that happened.
When asked why he had not given his phone to Gardaí, he said: “They didn’t ask him.”
He agreed that his lawyers had asked gardaí to obtain CCTV from the hotel, but said he was “upset” that more evidence had not been sought about the day’s events. In a sudden burst, he said: ‘I want every drop of evidence to be here. I want the taxi driver to say that his client was frolicking, sucking shit, this is crazy.’
Judge Alexander Owens intervened and asked him to tone down his language. McGregor said he was relaxing after training at his home at the K Club in Straffan, Co. Kildare, on Saturday, December 8. He heard that the District 8 nightclub in Dublin was having a closing party and asked his driver/security guard to bring him.
He posted a photo of himself on stage on his Instagram and Hand responded privately. He said that although he didn’t know her personally, they came from a similar area of Dublin and moved in the “same circles”. Mr McGregor’s group also went to Krystle nightclub, where they stayed until 6/7am.
Hand later sent her a photo of herself at her Christmas party, dressed in a red jumpsuit, the court heard. He said she invited him into her salon during a “mountain of messages”, and the court heard Ms Hand and Danielle Kealey “jumped” into his car when it stopped at 10.15am
They picked up their friend, James Lawrence, who had been away but had already gone home, “to balance the group”, and went to the Beacon.
Cross-examination of Mr McGregor continues today.