Connor to pay $250,000 for rape!
Dublin, Nov 22 (EFE).-
Mixed martial arts fighter Conor McGregor lost a civil rape damages case on Friday when Nikita Hand, who accused him of having “brutally raped and battered” her, was awarded 248,603 euros (258,000 dollars) by a jury in Dublin’s High Court.
Hand also claimed that another friend of The Notorious, James Lawrence, also sexually assaulted her on the same night, but the jury sided with Lawrence, saying he did not assault Hand.
The plaintiff’s lawyers had asked for 750,000 euros in compensation to rehouse their client, who left the home she bought with her then-partner after the assault, and 1 million euros for loss of earnings after she quit her job at the beauty salon for mental health reasons.
As she left court, Hand read a statement asserting that her victory served as an example to her daughter “and every other young girl and boy that you can stand up for yourself if something happens to you, no matter who the person is, and that justice will be served.”
Hand, 35, and McGregor, 36, were acquaintances, having grown up in the same working-class area of south Dublin.
On the night of the December 2018 incident, she sent him a message asking to meet, and he picked her and another woman up and took them to a penthouse room in a South Dublin hotel with Lawrence, where drugs and alcohol were consumed.
Hand said McGregor pinned her to a bed, put her in a chokehold, and said he would kill her, and fearing for her life, she said she let him do what he wanted.
The mixed martial arts star claimed his innocence, insisting he had ” fully consensual”, “vigorous” and “athletic” sex with Hands, but that it was “not rough” and there was “not an iota of distress.”
During the trial, Hands’ defense presented medical evidence confirming that she had bruises and internal injuries.
She said she had no memory of having sex later with Lawrence, who said he had consensual sex with her twice after McGregor left.
McGregor’s lawyers used hotel security footage to argue that it showed the complainant was in a festive mood, a version supported by witness Danielle Kealy, the friend who accompanied Hands to the hotel’s penthouse where the events took place.
Hand reported the attack to the Gardaí, the Irish police, shortly after it happened, and decided to pursue the civil route after the prosecution refused to press charges on the basis that there was no reasonable prospect of conviction for McGregor and Lawrence.
The standard of proof in a civil case is lower than in a criminal case, with jurors being asked to decide the case on the balance of probabilities rather than beyond a reasonable doubt.
After the decision, McGregor vowed in X that he would appeal the Dublin High Court’s decision because the judge’s order and compensation were for “assault” and not “aggravated and exemplary damages”, adding that he was disappointed that “the jury did not listen to all the evidence that the (Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions) reviewed.”
McGregor is one of the biggest stars in the history of the Ultimate Fighting Championship mixed martial arts circuit, having previously held the featherweight and lightweight titles, and was ranked by Forbes as the world’s highest-paid athlete in 2021, with a reported income of 180 million dollars. EFE
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