Conor McGregor has, according to a document filed in court proceedings, deleted copies of CCTV footage used in a High Court civil trial which culminated in a jury decision that he raped a woman in a Dublin hotel.
The mixed martial arts fighter was directed by Mr Justice Alexander Owens earlier this month to provide an affidavit, a sworn statement, after lawyers for Nikita Hand raised concerns about social media posts suggesting the footage would be released.
The judge’s direction on January 16th required Mr McGregor to set out on affidavit that he had deleted all copies of the CCTV that he held on fobs, computers or phones. The direction was made after the judge granted Ms Hand’s lawyers an order restraining Mr McGregor from disseminating the footage.
The judge considered there was “a real danger” Mr McGregor would disseminate it to an Italian business partner, Gabriel Ernesto Rapisarda, who reportedly posted on social media that it would be released this month and would change the public’s view of Mr McGregor and boost sales of his stout.
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Ms Hand (35), a mother of one and hair colourist from Drimnagh, was awarded almost €250,000 damages against Mr McGregor on foot of the jury’s decision last November that he raped her in the Beacon Hotel in Sandyford on December 9th, 2018.
The jury found James Lawrence (35), of Rafter’s Road, Drimnagh, a friend of Mr McGregor’s, had not assaulted her in the hotel after Mr McGregor left.
The CCTV played at the trial showed Ms Hand interacting with the two men in the car park and in the lift going to and from the hotel’s penthouse suite. Ms Hand denied the footage contradicted her claims, said she found it a “very hard watch” as she was drunk and stumbling, and that it did not take away from the fact she was “brutally raped and battered”.
When making the order against dissemination of the footage, Mr Justice Owens said the civil jury had “conclusively” determined Mr McGregor raped Ms Hand on the date in question.
Mr McGregor was not entitled to disseminate “bits and pieces” of discovered material and does not get “another run” at the case by throwing out allegations on social media that Ms Hand lied in the case, or by using surrogates, he said.
Dissemination of the footage would breach Mr McGregor’s obligations under the court’s discovery process, be a civil contempt and a potential breach of Ms Hand’s privacy rights, the judge said.
The judge, who had refused an adjournment to allow Mr McGregor more time to provide an affidavit concerning the CCTV issues, directed an affidavit be provided by Mr McGregor within a week of the December 16th hearing.
It is understood Mr McGregor last week provided a brief affidavit stating he had deleted the footage and that he will provide a more detailed affidavit prior to the matter returning before the judge on February 12th.
During the January 16th hearing, Remy Farrell SC, with barrister Shelley Horan, for Mr McGregor, said Mr McGregor had not given the CCTV to Mr Rapisarda and there was no evidence the latter had the footage.
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