‘I thought he was going to kill me’ – Hairdresser says MMA star McGregor and friend raped him at hotel

A woman who claimed she was raped by Conor McGregor and his friend feared the mixed martial arts star would kill her during the ordeal, the Supreme Court heard Tuesday.

Hairstylist Nikita Hand, 35, claimed Mr McGregor and his friend James Lawrence, of Rafters Road, Drimnagh, had sex with her on two occasions without her consent in the penthouse of a Dublin hotel following a cocaine-fuelled party.

He claims he was severely injured and grazed following the attack, in which he claims Mr McGregor put him in a ‘chokehold’.

He told the doctor who examined him the next morning: ‘I didn’t fight with him anymore. ‘I thought you were going to kill me.’

He claimed the former UFC champion told him during the attack: ‘Now you know what it’s like in the octagon.’

Starting his own statement in the trial, which will continue today, he said: ‘He immediately put me to bed.

‘I remember trying to defend myself by raising my arms to keep him away from me. He continued to put his weight on me.’

Her lawyer said the two men denied her claims, claiming the sex was consensual and suggested Ms Hand was a ‘gold digger’ and ‘con artist’.

Everyone was present in the Four Courts as the civil trial began on Tuesday.

The jury, consisting of eight women and four men, will decide whether the allegations are true and whether the plaintiff deserves compensation.

John Gordon, prosecuting on behalf of Ms Hand, said his client was 29 at the time of the alleged incidents, living in Drimnagh with his partner and seven-year-old daughter and having a successful career working at a hairdresser in Goatstown. . He said he went to a Christmas party at work on December 8, 2018, and that after the night, he and his friends returned to the lounge to continue the party. He said his client was ‘not an angel and did not act like an angel’.

‘He was having so much fun. He had too much to drink. “His spirit of choice was Bacardi, he also had some beer and some cocaine,” he said. He also took antidepressants, he told the jury. He said he contacted Mr McGregor, who was from the same area as him and with whom he had mutual friends, in order to continue the party.

He was called to the lounge on the morning of December 9 and picked her up along with another woman who was still there, the court heard.

They were heard driving around for a while with Mr McGregor, Ms Hand and her friend in the back of the car, and the driver in the front, searching for Mr Lawrence’s house.

The court was told Mr McGregor entered the house for about 15 minutes, then walked out with Mr Lawence and a bag of cocaine. The court heard they all got into the car and shared the drugs.

Mr Gordon said his client had started menstruating the day before and was using tampons.

‘She will tell you that she doesn’t have sex during her period,’ he said.

The group went to the Beacon Hotel and went up to the penthouse suite where the party continued.

Ms Hand said Mr McGregor went to her bedroom and asked her to perform oral sex, but she refused. He said he then ‘pinned her to the bed’.

‘He is clearly no match for Mr McGregor physically,’ Mr Gordon said.

‘He’ll tell you he’s nervous. He tried to push her away, but he totally failed.’

He said the watch on his wrist scratched his chest when pressed against him during the struggle.

Mr Gordon said Mr McGregor then turned him over and put him in an arm lock, then pulled him up by his neck until he couldn’t breathe. He said you told him: ‘Now you know what the octagon is like. ‘I had to hit myself three times.’

Mr Gordon said his client was ‘completely appalled’. He described it as a ‘violent, violent attack’ and said a doctor who examined Ms Hand after the incident found her tampon ’embedded in her vagina’.

‘In response to this Mr McGregor told you that this was a consensual encounter, that they were just having fun and having some rough sex,’ he said.

He continued: ‘What he is saying is that she gave him permission to carry out a brutal attack on her body.’

But he said the jury would find his behavior after the alleged attack ‘extraordinary’ and ‘bizarre’. He said he did not call for help or 999, but added: ‘Of course he was full of drugs.’

The woman returned to the room and hung out with Mr Lawrence, eventually getting into a taxi with him, the court heard. Mr Gordon said he did not believe anything sexual had happened between them until the following February when he was notified that Mr Lawrence had said they had had sex twice.

He told the jury this was not a criminal case and they had to “decide what to make of all this.” He said there would be a lot of noise but they should use common sense and ‘not be fooled’ when deciding the case. He said Mr McGregor and Mr Lawrence ‘completely deny’ his claim. Lawyers represented by the same lawyers said Ms Hand had engaged in a “flirtatious exchange of messages” before the pair met.

The defense claimed she “enjoyed” and had consensual sex with Mr McGregor. She claimed that he woke up and wanted ‘more’ from her, showing his pleasure and never indicating that he was unhappy or wanted to stop.

As Mr McGregor left with his friend, they said he ‘kept urging him to stay’.

They said he then behaved flirtatiously with Mr. Lawrence, kissing her and putting his arm around her before returning to his hotel room with her.

Mr Gordon went with her to a bar in Drimnagh and had consensual sex with her twice before returning to the hotel, the defense alleges.

The court heard the couple eventually left the hotel in a taxi and were dropped off at their homes separately. Mr Gordon said their defense was ‘self-serving’.

But he said the final ‘malicious twist’ was that the defendants’ claim was ‘false, malicious and clearly pursued in bad faith’. Noting the claim for relocation expenses of €750,000 and loss of earnings of €1 million, they claimed this was ‘tantamount to extortion’.

“This is at the discretion of my client,” Mr. Gordon said. ‘He’s a gold digger, he’s a fraud.’ He said Ms. Hand was brave and asked for acquittal from the jury.

He said his first concern the morning after the alleged attack was that his tampon was stuck, but it was his mother who called gardaí and his client was brought to Rotunda hospital by ambulance.

He said he did not initially tell gardaí that the man he claimed attacked him was ‘afraid’ of Mr McGregor. ‘He was a senseless wreck,’ he said.

Gynecologist Dr. examined her in the hospital’s sexual assault treatment unit. Daniel Kane said he had extensive bruises on his body, most of which appeared to be fingerprint bruising.

Ms Hand said an attacker grabbed her by the neck in a ‘smothering grip’ and suffered bruised knuckles as he tried to push her away.

Judge Alexander Owens issued a strict warning that the jury should not act as private detectives, Google anything, or research or comment on the case on social media. The case continues.