A woman has told a High Court jury that Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fighter Conor McGregor “pinned” her down on to a bed in a penthouse suite of a Dublin hotel.
Nikita Hand said this was after she told Mr McGregor she “did not feel comfortable”, she knew his girlfriend’s family and her partner was close friends with Mr McGregor’s partner’s brother.
She said she did not want to have sex and was there “to party and have a good time” but Mr McGregor “was not taking no for an answer”.
He had pinned her on to a bed and kept telling her, “relax babe” and “rubbing my face”, she said. He pinned her “right down” on to the bed. She put her arms up to keep him away but he kept pushing his weight down on top of her. They were both fully dressed at this stage, she said.
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Before that, while Mr McGregor was in the hotel bathroom, he had called to her to “suck on that” which she said was a reference to his penis.
Ms Hand (35), was beginning her evidence on the opening day of her civil action for damages over an alleged sexual assault of her by Mr McGregor on December 9th, 2018.
She has also alleged a separate sexual assault of her, on the same date, by James Lawrence, of Rafters Road, Drimnagh.
The jury has heard both men deny the sexual assault of Ms Hand and have both pleaded there was consensual sex.
When opening the case on Tuesday, John Gordon SC, for Ms Hand, said his client was subjected by Mr McGregor to a “vicious and violent” sexual assault.
He said Ms Hand was having her period at the time and a tampon she was wearing was wedged insider her vagina and later had to be removed with a forceps.
Her evidence would be that during the alleged assault, Mr McGregor flipped her over, put her in an arm lock and pressed three times on her neck until she could not breathe. By the third time, she gave up and “could not resist any more”, counsel said.
She would say Mr McGregor had said: “Now you know what it was like to be in the Octagon when I went down three times.”
She was at this point terrified and subjected herself to what was about to happen which was “a vicious and violent” assault, counsel said.
Mr McGregor later left the hotel suite with her friend, leaving Ms Hand and Mr Lawrence in the room, counsel said.
At this point, his client’s conduct “will seem extraordinary”, he said. She did not rush to dial 999 or get someone, counsel said. She was “full of drugs” and proceeded in what seemed to have been “a state of elation”, and delayed shock.
Mr Lawrence got her a sandwich, she cried and then “bizarrely” hung around with Mr Lawrence for some hours. It “seemed all lovey dovey” with him, counsel said. They went out but returned to the room, sharing a taxi home later that evening, he said.
Ms Hand had made no complaint against Mr Lawrence. But she discovered afterwards that he had said they had sex twice after Mr McGregor had left. She has no recollection such an event ever happened, he said.
He said both men denied her claims. Ms Hand was being called a “gold digger” and “a fraud” but “bravery ultimately sits with my client”, counsel said.
In her evidence, Ms Hand, a hair colourist, said she grew up in Drimnagh, and knew Mr McGregor who was a friend of her cousins and she was friends with his friends.
During a work Christmas party on the night of December 8th, 2018, she had drunk beer and Bacardi and also taken some cocaine, she said. She and other work colleagues went to the hair salon to continue the party and, while there, she contacted Mr McGregor who later came and collected her and her female colleague in his car.
They were drinking in the car, which was driven by a security guard, and drove around for a time before going to Mr Lawrence’s house where they waited while Mr McGregor went inside, she said.
Mr McGregor had come out after a time with some cocaine which he gave to her and her colleague, she said. Mr Lawrence got into the front seat of the car. She did not see either Mr McGregor or Mr Lawrence take cocaine.
The car went into an underground car park and they went in a lift to a penthouse suite where they continued having a good time and were laughing and messing. She did not remember seeing any drugs at the hotel, just full bottles of alcohol, vodka and Bacardi and mixers and glasses.
They were all drinking except the security guards. There were about three of them coming in and out, she said. At one stage, she remembered Mr McGregor and herself being in a bedroom on their own and him “coming on to me” and “pinning” her down on a bed.
Ms Hand will continue her evidence when the case resumes on Wednesday.
Earlier on Tuesday, Dr Daniel Kane, a gynaecologist, said he examined Ms Hand in the sexual assault unit of Dublin’s Rotunda Hospital on December 10th, 2018.
She was alleging she had been physically and sexually assaulted and was concerned a tampon was inside her vagina.
She had been transferred from the hospital emergency department after she had opted to proceed with a forensic examination with Garda involvement, he said.
She very distressed and upset, was shaking and crying and found it difficult to sit due to pain, he said.
He took a note of her account of the alleged assault and examined her, noting abrasions and bruising on several parts of her body, including her arms and legs. Extensive bruising on her buttocks was consistent with fingertip bruising, he said. He noted purple bruising on her neck which could have been a love bite. Some of her acrylic fingernails were missing from both hands, he said.
Dr Kane said he had removed a tampon which was breaking apart and wedged into the very top of her vagina, about five or six inches in.
He would categorise her injuries as moderate to severe, he said.
In cross-examination by Remy Farrell SC, with Shelley Horan BL, for Mr McGregor, he agreed his task was not to interrogate the account of the person alleging assault. He agreed bruising can have different causes and it can be difficult to precisely say when red or purple bruises were sustained.
He agreed that many people who allege choking or strangulation would have no visible injury within 48 hours.
He said he has seen many women who have a tampon retained but often because they had forgotten about it. He had conducted some 340 examinations of women and this was the first time he found a tampon still inside a woman after sexual intercourse, he said.
The case, before Mr Justice Alexander Owens and a jury of eight women and four men, is expected to last two weeks.
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