Conor McGregor has appeared to respond after Nikita Hand sought an injunction preventing him from sharing CCTV surrounding his civil rape case.
A jury found UFC fighter McGregor liable for sexually assaulting Ms. Hand in December 2018, and has been ordered to pay nearly €250,000 in damages. A friend of McGregor’s was found not liable for also assaulting Ms. Hand, while a High Court hearing to determine costs is scheduled for Thursday, with posts McGregor has made surrounding the trial also expected to be addressed.
Ms. Hand has since sought an injunction to prevent McGregor from sharing CCTV footage that was shown to the jury during the trial, and while McGregor has surprisingly kept mum on the injunction, he has reposted messages from supporters questioning why Ms. Hand is seeking the injunction.
A number of posts from Gabriel Ernesto Rapisarda, an Italian entrepreneur whose company Gabriel & Spirits distributed McGregor’s stout Forged Stout, were shared by McGregor on Instagram — with one saying "Why don’t they want to make public the video between Nikita and James in the elevator, many hours after the meeting between Nikita and Conor?"
Conor McGregor shared Gabriel Ernesto Rapisarda's story to his own Instagram story on January 13, 2024.
"Since my name has been used in the last few days, let’s clarify one thing, the video is a fundamental element of this shameful story," Mr. Rapisarda added. "A video that clearly shows Nikita’s party continued long after the meeting with Conor."
Conor McGregor shared Gabriel Ernesto Rapisarda's story to his own Instagram story on January 13, 2024.
McGregor also re-shared screenshots of the story, originally shared by RTÉ, although he didn’t comment himself surrounding the injunction.
Mr. Justice Alexander Owens, who presided over the case and will determine the costs surrounding the case, granted permission by Ms Hand’s legal team to file the injunction — however, a decision has not been made on whether to grant the injunction or not at the time of writing.
Barrister Siún Leonowicz, who was instructed by Ms. Hand’s legal team at Coleman Legal Services, said that Ms. Hand would seek the injunction after Mr. Rapisarda allegedly indicated the CCTV would be published imminently — and indicated that the CCTV being published to the public would boost sales of McGregor’s stout.
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In the high-profile case last November, the jurors were shown CCTV evidence showing Ms. Hand, McGregor, and their friends Danielle Kealy and James Lawrence in the hotel car park and lift on the day the assault took place, December 9, 2018.
During cross-examination, Ms. Hand described the footage as "very hard to watch" after McGregor’s barrister had suggested that the CCTV evidence showed that she was interested in a "romantic entanglement."
Ms. Hand replied: "I don’t remember what we were doing or saying…. I see a very vulnerable woman, a drunk woman who did not know what she was doing, who should have been looked after, who should have been taken home in that state."
Instead, she said, she had been brutally raped and battered.
The case was already due to be mentioned before the court on Wednesday, when it will be confirmed whether McGregor intends to appeal, and if he is to be fined for disparaging the court and verdict on social media.
She wants to apply for an injunction to prevent the CCTV from being shared outside the courtroom, he was told.
Judge Owens said this could also be done on Wednesday, on notice to McGregor’s legal team.
In a sworn statement to the court, her solicitor, David Coleman, said stories in two Sunday newspapers on January 5 reported that Gabriel Ernesto Rapisarda, McGregor’s Italian stout distributor, had "indicated the imminent publication of the CCTV used in the trial of the proceedings," through posts on Instagram.
*This article was originally published on Extra.ie.
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