UFC star Conor McGregor testified in court docket immediately in a case the place he and one other man are accused of sexually assaulting Nikita Hand.
Justice Alexander Owens is overseeing the Excessive Courtroom civil in opposition to the Irish blended martial arts fighter and one other alleged assailant named James Lawrence.
The girl claims the lads raped her in a Beacon Lodge penthouse suite in Sandyford, Dublin on Dec. 9, 2018.
At Wednesday’s listening to, McGregor denied any wrongdoing, claiming that he and Hand had a consensual sexual encounter after beforehand conversing on-line.
“I assumed we have been getting on properly,” McGregor mentioned of the encounter at a lodge, the place he and Hand entered a rest room. “She was very boisterous, very energetic, very enthusiastic as I started zipping up my trousers after utilizing the bathroom, we started kissing and have become extra passionate and it took off from there.
“She carried out oral intercourse on me at that second. We have been each clothed after which started to take off our garments. It progressed in a short time.”
Hand’s testimony suggests a distinct story.
“I keep in mind safety guard over by the window and one other safety guard closing the door between the 2 rooms,” Hand mentioned. “I keep in mind panicking. Why is there three males within the room, and I’m the one one in right here?
“I additionally keep in mind strolling into the bed room space, and I keep in mind strolling the 2 rooms trying round and Conor was within the lavatory, and he mentioned one thing inappropriate to me. He informed me to ‘suck on that.’”
“He then pinned me down,” Hand mentioned. “He put his whole-body weight on high of me and I couldn’t breathe. I attempted my greatest to get away from him. I used to be attempting to wiggle my manner out, do no matter I might. I keep in mind biting him actually onerous. I keep in mind his arm round me and choking me.
“I used to be attempting to combat as a lot as I might. I bit him, and he didn’t prefer it, it was like he was simply behind me then. He choked me, put his arm round me. I simply keep in mind him behind me, and I believe I used to be sitting on the mattress. He put his arm round my neck and choked me 3 times.”
Based on a report from MMA Preventing, a number of witnesses, together with a health care provider known as to the stand, described Hand as having seen accidents afterwards to her jawline, neck, arms, legs, fingers, knuckles, buttocks, and proper breast. Hand’s authorized crew later shared a textual content alternate by which she informed a buddy, “My tampon is caught inside me, so I needed to take away it. By no means going out once more,” a scenario she attributes to the alleged assault.
Hand additionally testified that she feared for her life through the assault.
“I simply froze, and I couldn’t transfer, and I couldn’t breathe,” Hand mentioned. “I appeared on the bedpost and was fascinated about my daughter. I stored considering I used to be going to die, and I used to be by no means going to see my daughter once more. … I simply utterly thought I used to be going to die.”
“He let me go and I keep in mind I used to be saying sorry to him,” she continued. “Saying I’m sorry, I’m sorry. It felt like I’d completed one thing mistaken. I stored saying sorry…so he wouldn’t damage me once more.
“Your consumer is filled with lies,” McGregor mentioned Wednesday to Hand’s lawyer, in keeping with ESPN. “Every little thing is a lie.”
