Conor McGregor testimony suggests rape accuser performed oral sex on him
UFC star Conor McGregor testified in court today in a case where he and another man are accused of sexually assaulting Nikita Hand.
Justice Alexander Owens is overseeing the High Court civil against the Irish mixed martial arts fighter and another alleged assailant named James Lawrence.
The woman claims the men raped her in a Beacon Hotel penthouse suite in Sandyford, Dublin on Dec. 9, 2018.
At Wednesday’s hearing, McGregor denied any wrongdoing, claiming that he and Hand had a consensual sexual encounter after previously conversing online.
“I thought we were getting on well,” McGregor said of the encounter at a hotel, where he and Hand entered a bathroom. “She was very boisterous, very energetic, very enthusiastic as I began zipping up my trousers after using the toilet, we began kissing and became more passionate and it took off from there.
“She performed oral sex on me at that moment. We were both clothed and then began to take off our clothes. It progressed very quickly.”
Hand’s testimony suggests a different tale.
“I remember security guard over by the window and another security guard closing the door between the two rooms,” Hand said. “I remember panicking. Why is there three men in the room, and I’m the only one in here?
“I also remember walking into the bedroom area, and I remember walking the two rooms looking around and Conor was in the bathroom, and he said something inappropriate to me. He told me to ‘suck on that.’”
“He then pinned me down,” Hand said. “He put his whole-body weight on top of me and I couldn’t breathe. I tried my best to get away from him. I was trying to wiggle my way out, do whatever I could. I remember biting him really hard. I remember his arm around me and choking me.
“I was trying to fight as much as I could. I bit him, and he didn’t like it, it was like he was just behind me then. He choked me, put his arm around me. I just remember him behind me, and I think I was sitting on the bed. He put his arm around my neck and choked me three times.”
According to a report from MMA Fighting, several witnesses, including a doctor called to the stand, described Hand as having visible injuries afterwards to her jawline, neck, arms, legs, fingers, knuckles, buttocks, and right breast. Hand’s legal team later shared a text exchange in which she told a friend, “My tampon is stuck inside me, so I had to remove it. Never going out again,” a situation she attributes to the alleged assault.
Hand also testified that she feared for her life during the assault.
“I just froze, and I couldn’t move, and I couldn’t breathe,” Hand said. “I looked at the bedpost and was thinking about my daughter. I kept thinking I was going to die, and I was never going to see my daughter again. … I just completely thought I was going to die.”
“He let me go and I remember I was saying sorry to him,” she continued. “Saying I’m sorry, I’m sorry. It felt like I’d done something wrong. I kept saying sorry…so he wouldn’t hurt me again.
“Your client is full of lies,” McGregor said Wednesday to Hand’s lawyer, according to ESPN. “Everything is a lie.”
