A woman who won a civil damages claim against Conor McGregor wants the High Court to restrain the 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 also found that James Lawrence, a friend of Mr McGregor’s, had not assaulted Ms Hand in the Beacon Hotel in Sandyford after Mr McGregor left the premises.
The CCTV played to the jury shows Ms Hand interacting with Mr McGregor and Mr Lawrence in the hotel elevator and carpark before and after entering the hotel’s penthouse suite.
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She denied under cross-examination that the footage contradicted her claims and said she found it a “very hard watch” as she was drunk, stumbling and it did not show her character.
Mr Justice Alexander Owens on Monday permitted Ms Hand’s lawyers to serve Mr McGregor and Mr Lawrence with 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 Independent 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 during the trial of her claim.
Mr Rapisarda runs the Gabriel & Spirits company, which helps distribute Mr McGregor’s stout in Italy. Mr Coleman said Mr Rapisarda has indicated that publication of the CCTV would help to boost sales of the drink.
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 the judge was already due to deal on Thursday with Mr McGregor’s description of the court on social media as a “kangaroo court”.
Ms Hand, a mother of one and hair colourist, 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 said she was menstruating at the time, 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.
Mr McGregor denied rape and said they had “vigorous”, “athletic” and “fully consensual” sex without “an iota of distress” from Ms Hand.
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 that 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, which are estimated at more than €1 million
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