A woman who won her civil damages claim against Conor McGregor wants the High Court to restrain publication of CCTV footage used in the trial.
Nikita Hand (35) was last November awarded almost €250,000 damages after a High Court jury upheld her civil claim that she was raped by the Mixed Martial Arts fighter in a Dublin hotel in December 2018. The jury found James Lawrence, a friend of Mr McGregor’s, had not assaulted Ms Hand in the Beacon hotel after Mr McGregor left the premises.
On Monday, Mr Justice Alexander Owens permitted Ms Hand’s lawyers to serve Mr McGregor and Mr Lawrence with an abridged notice of an injunction application she intends to move this Thursday. Barrister Siún Leonowicz, instructed by Coleman Legal Services, said her client is seeking an injunction to prevent dissemination, circulation or publication of CCTV footage shown at the trial.
In an affidavit to the court, Ms Hand’s solicitor, David Coleman, said the Sunday Independant and the Sunday World reported earlier this month that Gabriel Ernesto Rapisarda, a business associate of Mr McGregor’s, has indicated there will be “imminent” publication of the CCTV footage used at the trial of her claim.
Mr Rapisarda runs the Gabriel and Spirits company, which helps distribute Mr McGregor’s stout in Italy. Mr Coleman said the business partner has indicated that publication of the CCTV would help boost sales of Mr McGregor’s alcohol.
The solicitor said he believes any attempt to publish the CCTV “is a contempt of court” where its “only purpose” is to seek to “undermine and discredit the verdict of the court and, in so doing, gain financially”. In view of Mr McGregor’s alleged intention, Mr Coleman said he is anxious to ensure the injunction motion is moved on Thursday so the court can consider Mr McGregor’s alleged “ongoing contempt”.
Mr Coleman said that on Thursday the judge was already due to deal with Mr McGregor’s description of the court on social media as a “kangaroo court”. A mother of one and a hair colourist, Ms Hand told the jury last November that Mr McGregor raped her in the Beacon hotel after she told him she did not want to have sex.
She said she told him she felt uncomfortable and they had mutual friends. She had a tampon inside her and would not have sex during her period, she said.
Mr McGregor “would not take no for an answer” and she stopped resisting him after he put her in a chokehold three times, leaving her struggling to breathe, she said. Mr McGregor denied rape and said they had “vigorous”, “athletic” and “fully consensual” sex.
Ms Hand also sued Mr Lawrence, of Rafter’s Road, Drimnagh, after he gave a statement to gardaí in February 2019 alleging he had consensual sex twice with her following Mr McGregor’s departure from the hotel. Ms Hand said in evidence she had no memory of having sex with Mr Lawrence and described his account as a “made-up story”.
Mr McGregor has been ordered to pay the bulk of the legal costs of the case.
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