Former UFC fighter Conor McGregor loses appeal for civil rape case

Conor McGregor has lost his civil jury appeal against a finding that he sexually assaulted a woman.

The Irish MMA fighter had tried to appeal a civil court order to pay £206,000 in damages to Nikita Hand, 35, who accused him ‘brutally raping and battering’ her in a penthouse at a south Dublin hotel in December 2018.

Ms Hand was hugged by her supporters in court after McGregor’s appeal was dismissed.

McGregor fought the verdict after his lawyers said his ‘no comment’ responses to Gardai interrogation on the night in question shouldn’t have been played before the jury.

The MMA fighter lost his appeal on all five grounds that the case was taken.

The jury found that McGregor, who told the court he had consensual sex with Ms Hand, civilly liable for assault.

Ms Hand was awarded €248,603 in damages and McGregor was also ordered to pay about €1.3 million in legal costs following November’s trial.

McGregor then launched an appeal on the basis of five grounds.

Among the grounds was fresh evidence following an affidavit from a former neighbor of Ms Hand, Samantha O’Reilly, who said she had witnessed a physical row between Ms Hand and her then-partner at about the same time of the incident at the Beacon hotel.

Earlier this month, McGregor’s legal team dramatically withdrew that ground of appeal, saying it would no longer be relying on the material.

McGregor’s appeal proceeded on other grounds, largely relating to the circumstances under which his ‘no comment’ answers to gardai were allowed to enter the trial.

Meanwhile, McGregor’s co-defendant has also lost his appeal against the trial judge’s decision not to award him his legal costs.

During the same trial in November, the jury did not find James Lawrence had assaulted Ms Hand at the hotel.

However, the trial judge decided that Ms Hand would not have to pay Mr Lawrence’s costs.

His legal team challenged whether that decision was correct and reasonable, arguing that Ms Hand should have to pay as the jury did not find he had assaulted her.

Delivering their judgment on Thursday, the three judges of the court – Ms Justice Isobel Kennedy, Mr Justice Brian O’Moore and Mr Justice Patrick MacGrath – agreed to dismiss both appeals in their entirety.

Reading out the judgment on behalf of the three-judge panel, Mr Justice O’Moore summarised the grounds for appeal before explaining the Court of Appeal’s reasons for dismissing all five grounds.

‘I therefore dismiss the appeal in its entirety,’ he said.

Neither McGregor nor Mr Lawrence were present in court.