Jury in McGregor case awards Nikita Hand nearly €250k in damages

Nikita Hand has won her High Court case against MMA fighter Conor McGregor.

A jury at the High Court found Mr McGregor raped Ms Hand in a hotel in Dublin in December 2018 and awarded her almost €250,000 in damages.

The jury found that Mr McGregor's friend, James Lawrence did not rape Ms Hand.

Her lawyers had alleged that he had falsely claimed he had sex with Ms Hand on the same day in order to damage her character.

Ms Hand claimed she was raped in the Beacon Hotel in Dublin on 9 December 2018 by Mr McGregor.

She said Mr McGregor wouldn’t take no for an answer, pinned her down and choked her three times before brutally raping her, leaving her with severe bruising.

Mr Lawrence claimed he had sex with her after Mr McGregor left. Ms Hand said she had no memory of this.

The next morning she had to have a tampon removed by a doctor in hospital using a forceps.

The doctor described her as having a multitude of injuries which he categorised as "moderate to severe".

Both men accused Ms Hand of lying.

Mr McGregor said Ms Hand was "full of lies".

He said he had consensual sex with her which he described as athletic and vigorous. He said there was no tampon and the bruising on her body did not come from him.

Mr Lawrence said he also had consensual sex with Ms Hand after Mr McGregor left.

He said there was no tampon and no bruising other than a small bruise on her leg or arm. He denied being a "fall guy" for Mr McGregor or involved in collusion to make Ms Hand look bad.

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The jury had to decide if Mr McGregor and/or Mr Lawrence had assaulted Ms Hand, before going on to assess damages.

The jury did not