Conor McGregor told court of "staggering legal fees" from "this dispute" as civil case alleging rape reaches conclusion

As he bounded up to the witness box in Dublin’s High Court last week, Conor McGregor in his rush collided with a female journalist.

"Oh I apologise, excuse me," he offered, overtly polite. The MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) fighter’s accent seemed far from his Drimnagh roots.

And the halting staccato with clear American inflections was in evidence again minutes later when he rejected suggestions that he’d paid off his pal to take the rap for the sexual assault accusations against him.

"Take the fall? Whose mind could that be in? No. Who could ever believe that? What do you mean? How silly," Mr. McGregor told John Gordon, counsel for Nikita Hand, the woman who claims he raped her in December 2018 and who has taken a civil action against him for damages.

Dressed immaculately in a fitted navy suit with gleaming white shirt, a navy tie and brown suede ankle boots, he sat on the stand with his legs spread and his hands clasped in between them.

At the back of the courtroom watching him intently was his father, Tony, and another man who has flanked him every day of the hearing.

After the alleged incident, Ms. Hand, 35, a hairdresser also from Drimnagh, Dublin, presented at the Rotunda’s Sexual Assault Treatment Unit with injuries the forensic medical examiner there said were in the top 10% he’d seen in their severity.

On Thursday, Mr. McGregor denied he was the person who caused those injuries, saying he had "joyful" and "happy" consensual sex with the plaintiff in the penthouse suite of the Beacon Hotel after a drink- and cocaine-fuelled binge.

"There was no way to play this. I speak my truth on what is a grave situation. I didn’t cause those bruises. Your client had sex with multiple people during the course of that three-day bender," adding he and his co-defendant, James Lawrence, were "two people, at least," he knew the plaintiff had sex with "multiple times."

November 12, 2024: Nikita Hand at the High Court in Dublin. (RollingNews.ie)

Ms. Hand flatly denied last week having sex with Mr. Lawrence. She said that she cannot remember it ever happening.

When asked this week by Mr. Gordon if he paid for his friend’s legal fees, Mr McGregor replied immediately: "I don’t recall." He then added Mr. Lawrence was his friend and would not have been able to pay the fees.

Mr. Gordon asked him again if he paid Mr. Lawrence’s legal fees. This time Mr. McGregor replied, "possibly," and "I am not a million per cent."

The former MMA World Champion said he’s had "staggering legal fees" arising from "this dispute."

Asked once again, he replied: "I believe I did."

But he denied his co-defendant was to be a "patsy," the guy who was to "take the fall" in the case.

Mr. McGregor’s confident demeanour in the witness box was in marked contrast to his friend’s. Dressed in a navy zip-up jumper, with black trousers and white trainers, Mr. Lawrence’s eyes darted all over the courtroom as he gave evidence. He twisted in his seat and spoke rapidly, mostly at a low volume. At least six times, his barrister had to tell him to slow down and speak up.

He said he’d known Mr. McGregor since they were children but that he had become closer to him as they grew older.

He told the court he had been out with Mr. McGregor the evening before the alleged rape in District 8 and Krystle nightclub in Dublin. They had been with some girls who had decided to go home, and he went home himself too.

He said he was asleep in bed with his partner when Mr. McGregor came calling a few hours later. Mr. Lawrence said the fighter asked if he could use the toilet, and he was in there for about five minutes.

He initially declined to go back out with his pal, who by then had Ms. Hand and her friend Danielle Kealey with him in his car outside after collecting them from their Christmas party.

But when he saw that Mr. McGregor had left his phone behind, he went out after him in his bare feet and was persuaded to get in the car.

He said he didn’t have time to put his shoes or socks on. He said they drove around with no particular place to go before it was decided that they would go to the Beacon Hotel. He claimed that, at all times, the "girls" knew where they were going.

"Everyone was laughing and joking, couldn’t wait to get to the room, get some sounds on and have some drinks," he said.

Some hours after they arrived at the Beacon, he had sex with Danielle Kealey while the plaintiff was in the other room with Mr. McGregor.

He could hear "sex noises" and "moaning" coming from the room.

"One thing I can 100% stand by is that the door was open all the time," he told the court.

Mr. Lawrence said that when Mr. McGregor eventually left for his home in Kildare with Ms. Kealey, who also lived in Kildare, the plaintiff started to come on to him.

There were "joyful hugs," he said. "She was telling me what a nice person I was. I rejected her 14 times… She kept on going."

Eventually, he succumbed.

"I would like to say again that the sex between me and Nikita was soft. It was soft sex."

November 13, 2024: James Lawrence at the High Court in Dublin. (RollingNews.ie)

As he spoke, Ms. Hand, who had been listening to his testimony in the main body in the court, began to sob quietly.

The large number of legal workers, journalists, and onlookers in the main body of court 24 in the Four Courts have seen six leather chairs introduced as temporary seating at the back of the courtroom. This is where McGregor has sat every day flanked by his father and the other man, who takes copious notes.

To Mr. McGregor’s left and on the bench in front of him, about two metres away and right under the jury box, sits Ms. Hand.

Her partner, who is with her every day, at times holds her hand, rubs her arm or puts his arm around her to comfort her.

At times she has had to leave the courtroom, apparently being in some distress.

Before Mr. McGregor began to give his evidence on Wednesday, Ms. Kealey was called by his legal team to give evidence.

She was shown photographs of the hotel suite at the Beacon, which had two rooms with a connecting door. One had a sofa bed and the other a bed with a bath. She remained in the room with the sofa with Mr. Lawrence, she said.

Mr. McGregor’s counsel, Remy Farrell, asked her: "Do you remember Ms. Hand and Mr. McGregor going into the other room?"

"I don’t know much about it," she replied. "I just know they went into the other room. I wasn’t in that room." Asked if she knew what was happening in that room, she replied: "No."

The following day, she said the plaintiff sent her a message saying she had been raped.

She then phoned her from the Rotunda Hospital.

"She said she was raped. I said I did not see or hear anything," she told the court.

She agreed the plaintiff had asked her to delete the message.

November 13, 2024: Danielle Kealey at the High Court in Dublin. (RollingNews.ie)

Earlier, Dr. Charlotte Murphy, a forensic scientist with Forensic Science Ireland, confirmed that DNA obtained from the vaginal area was a "thousand million times more likely" to have originated from Conor McGregor than another unrelated person.

She also examined the clothing Ms. Hand was wearing on the night. She noted both straps of her black jumpsuit were ripped, and that she did not believe this was as a result of normal wear and tear.

The jumpsuit was then passed around the court in a brown Garda evidence bag.

Before her, Eithne Scully, an advanced paramedic who has served with Dublin Fire Brigade for six years, described the moments when she arrived at Ms. Hand’s house in Drimnagh the morning after the alleged rape.

A diminutive middle-aged woman in her fire brigade uniform, her strawberry-blonde hair was pulled into a ponytail.

When asked by counsel to describe the injuries she saw on Ms. Hand’s body, she replied: "She was very bruised," placing an emphasis on the word "very."

"I haven’t actually seen so many bruises in all my time."

The court was shown footage of Ms. Scully holding the plaintiff’s hand as she lay in the foetal position in the back of the ambulance that took her to the Rotunda.

Later, Dr. Anne Leader, a 72-year-old psychologist, said she has been reviewing sexual assault cases since she was 26, and has overseen 3,600 cases in all.

She told the court that when she met the plaintiff for the first time on December 4, 2020, she told her that she was in fear of "losing the core of her life."

She recalled Ms. Hand telling her that she was falling apart, and of her fear that pictures of her battered body were circulating on social media.

"She was anxious, she was tearful, and in my opinion, she came across as someone who was traumatised," Dr. Leader said. "She told me she wanted to die. She felt dirty, ashamed and guilty."

The case continues on Tuesday when closing arguments will be heard and the judge will give his charge to the jury, who will then retire to consider their verdict.

*This article was originally published on Extra.ie.