Conor McGregor tells court sex with him is 'athletic' and claims rape accuser is 'full of lies'
The trial finished for the day at 4pm on Wednesday and will resume on Thursday morning when the cross-examining of Mr McGregor will continue
UFC star Conor McGregor has insisted Nikita Hand’s allegation that he raped her in the penthouse of a Dublin hotel suite is: “Lies and more lies.”
Former hair colourist Ms Hand is suing Mr McGregor and James Lawrence for civil damages. Both men deny her claim of alleged assault in the Beacon Hotel in Sandyford on December 9, 2018.
On Wednesday afternoon at the High Court, Mr McGregor took the stand to give evidence and claimed he and Ms Hand “had sex which was fully consensual, in the missionary position.”
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Under cross-examination by Ms Hand’s barrister John Gordon, when shown photos of the bruises on the complainant’s body taken in the days after the alleged assault, Mr McGregor said the bruises “possibly came from her diving into the bath.”
“I will tell you where she didn’t get them - from me,” insisted Mr McGregor and admitted sex with him “was athletic, physical and it was prolonged.
“And it was in a multitude of positions,” he said, adding: “I had my hands on hips, buttocks, back of legs, no time did I go near her neck.
“At no time did I bite her, did she bite me. At no time did I scrape her, nor did she scrape me.”
When Mr Gordon put it to Mr McGregor that he came onto Ms Hand, that she remonstrated with him not to do it, Mr McGregor replied: “Lies and more lies.”
He insisted Ms Hand was not wearing a tampon - “there was none. If there was and she was on her cycle I would not have had sex with Nikita Hand.
“There was no tampon that I could see, what I could feel, no discussion of a tampon.”
He said the tampon must have been introduced after they had sex.
Earlier on Wednesday afternoon when Mr McGregor arrived at court he explained he wasn’t in court for the morning session because he “was a little under the weather last night, a stomach complaint.”
He then began to give his direct evidence telling his barrister Remy Farrell that he didn’t know of Nikita Hand personally but “saw her around and moved in the same circles.”
“Nikita used to follow me on Instagram and send me messages,” he said.
He says he uses social media for his business. He said Ms Hand’s Instagram page was private and that he didn’t follow her.
“One of the times a message came through from her and I responded. It was a compliment, a nice message. I know her as a friendly girl and began chatting online then.”
In the hours before the alleged assault, Mr McGregor claimed he was at a DJ event in District 8 in the Old Tivoli in Dublin where he was invited onstage and took a photo with the DJ and the crowd there. He posted the photo to his Instagram stories for the public - saying “it’s something I’d do often.”
“Ms Hand responded privately, sent me a picture of herself in a red jumpsuit in the evening, slightly provocative and asked me where I was and told me where she was and began talking then.
“It was a nice picture, I liked it,” he said.
After attending District 8 he went to Krystle nightclub in Dublin. He said he stayed “ridiculously late, till about 7am” and drove around with friends including James Lawrence to see where to go next.
“At that stage I had arranged for my security to book a room to be booked for me and it was at the Beacon,” he said.
“I was undecided whether to bring people back, but we drove people around having a buzz and people began to disperse and drop people home. I think Mr Lawrence either dropped him home or he jumped out.
He said while he was at Krystle nightclub with friends he received “a sleuth of messages coming in from Nikita” - but he said he wasn't responding as he was with friends —-”It's our Christmas party, come out to us, come out and get us,” he said Nikita sent.
He said it was around 10.51am when he arrived near The Goat pub close to the salon Ms Hand worked at.
“I was of the belief I was going to their party in the salon, joking about getting my hair done.
“I knew of Nikita but never met her and never met Danielle so we had no plans.
He said when he arrived at the salon, he said there “wasn’t really a disagreement” with Danielle in the car.
“When Nikita came into the car she was very bombastic and energetic.
“They dived into the car and I felt myself going back against the window.
“Maybe Danielle thought I was showing off my watch or being a show off. I didn’t feel that was the case. It wasn't necessarily a disagreement. It’s nice and relaxing in the car.”
After driving around for two hours Mr McGregor said “I’m just going to go home now. He said Nikita said: “No, let's party away,” and they all got on well he said.
“We were having a great bit of fun in the car, loving life, early hours of morning. They were two boisterous ladies who wished for a party. They said let's go to check out this hotel. I was being asked to get a hotel, get a drink, I was obliging.”
He admitted he first touched Nikita in the car, they were kissing and touching each other. “I thought we were getting on well.”
In the hotel room, he said Nikita followed him into the bathroom.
“She was very boisterous, very energetic, very enthusiastic as I began zipping up my trousers after using the toilet, we began kissing and became more passionate and it took off from there.
“She performed oral sex on me at that moment.
“We were both clothed and then began to take off our clothes.
“It progressed very quickly,” he said.
He said Mr Lawrence and Nikita’s work colleague Danielle Kealey were “on the sofa bed three feet away.”
He and Ms Hand were in the bedroom when they had “sex which was fully consensual in the missionary position.”
He said they began to have sex again when Nikita propositioned him.
“There was no tampon that I could see, what I could feel, no discussion of a tampon,” he said,
He said the sex was “athletic, she had her legs on his shoulders and another time he was upright and her knees were towards his chest.”
Later he said he went to sleep and woke up when James Lawrence started to pull at his leg.
“I wanted to go home but Nikita wanted to keep the party going. I wanted to leave, I had nothing left. I just walked out. Danielle needed a lift home.
“Yous can do what you want, I am going. I left the other car for them."
He said there were no bruises on Ms Hand and “she was not in an iota of distress - from the car, lift in the bedroom, entire process, all throughout the evening.”
When Mr Farrell said to Mr McGregor that in evidence Ms Hand said there was a lot of chatter on social media about a sports star, Mr McGregor said he remembers and said to himself then “It’s definitely not me."
“It’s definitely not me,” I said. “When I heard about a sports star, I was shocked and frightened beyond belief. It is the most scary thing I have gone through in my life.
“I was shocked and frightened beyond belief,” he said.
“I wanted to get everything correct,” he said, adding his reaction was to show the gardai “everything I had,” but they didn’t ask.
“I wanted every shred of evidence for the court,” he said.
Under cross-examination by Ms Hand’s barrister, Mr Gordon said: “My client described how you put her in an arm lock.”
“Your client is full of lies. Everything is a lie,” said Mr McGregor.
Mr Gordon put it to Mr McGregor: “You said to her now you know how I felt in the Octagon when I tapped three times.”
“How could anyone believe that …it’s a shortcoming, it's not in my nature. It’s a full blown lie to highlight a shortcoming,” said Mr McGregor.
“Your client was present in Las Vegas in August 2015 so she is well aware of mixed martial arts,” Mr McGregor said.
He added: “The allegation is not true and I deny the allegation.”
He said when he first saw the photos of Ms Hand’s bruises he said he was “shocked,” and questioned whether she had sex “with someone else.”
“I didn’t cause the bruising. Seeing the CCTV, the bath, Airfield, multitude of parties, the Beacon and then piece it together and then I am not so much shocked.”
The trial finished for the day at 4pm on Wednesday and will resume on Thursday morning when the cross-examining of Mr McGregor will continue.
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