Judge says a garda will be stationed in public gallery for McGregor case as he warns against photos

THE JUDGE IN the civil action against Conor McGregor and another man, James Lawrence, for alleged sexual assault of a woman has warned the public that taking photos of a jury is an offence.

Before proceedings began today, a note was passed to Mr Justice Alexander Owens from the jury.

Mr Justice Owens told the court that the note stated that at the end of proceedings yesterday, members of the jury noticed someone in the public gallery above the courtroom using a mobile phone which was pointed at the jury.

Mr Justice Owens said that while he could not verify that this was true without a proper investigation, he said that such a thing would be completely inappropriate and that he was going to arrange that a guard be stationed in the public gallery.

He also said that he was going to “keep a careful eye on it”.

He said that looking at the public gallery this morning, it struck him that “only those who are able to sit in the gallery should be present”. He said it was designed to accommodate only those who can sit in it, and that “if you can’t sit down, you have to leave”. He referred to one man who was standing and asked him to leave.

Mr Justice Owens also said that it is a contempt of court to take photographs of the jury and “there will be steps taken to deal with the matter in the event that anybody is suspected of it”.

James Lawrence

The woman who claims she was sexually assaulted by McGregor has rejected suggestions that she had consensual sex with a second accused man, James Lawrence, on the night in question. 

Nikita Hand (Ní Laimhín) alleges that McGregor (36) “sexually assaulted her, and in effect, raped her” in a hotel penthouse in Dublin on 9 December 2018, and that a second defendant, James Lawrence, of Rafter’s Road, Drimnagh, “did likewise”, Mr Justice Owens told the jury on the first day of the civil trial.

The allegations in the action are fully denied.

The action was brought in 2021 against McGregor. The civil trial is expected to last two weeks.

This afternoon, on the fourth day of the civil trial, John Fitzgerald SC, appearing for Lawrence, began his cross-examination of Hand.

“Perhaps a curious feature of Mr Lawrence’s case is that he’s here not because of what you said, but because of what he said,” Fitzgerald told the court.

“Because in fact he brought himself into this case by something he said to the guards in January 2019. He did so after you had been given a number of opportunities to discuss what happened.”

He put it to Hand that the first person she told about the alleged assault was her manager. He said there is a lack of clarity over aspects of what she told her.

“But one aspect is clear. You were talking about a singular assailant. There was no second man,” he said.

Hand agreed, adding: “I had no problem with James.”

Fitzgerald referred to the instances in which Hand had disclosed the alleged assault, with her former partner, his sister, the Rotunda Hospital Sexual Assault Treatment Unit, the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre and gardaí.

“Each time, it was ‘he’, not ‘they’,” he said.

Hand agreed.

Referring to her initial statement to gardaí, Fitzgerald put it to Hand that she told police that nothing happened between her and Lawrence in the penthouse suite. She agreed.

Fitzgerald told the court that Lawrence was interviewed by gardaí as a witness on 17 January and gave a statement on 18 January. In this statement, Lawrence told gardaí that he had had consensual sex with Hand on two occasions. Hand was subsequently invited to give a second statement to gardaí in the wake of this.

Fitzgerald referred to Hand’s previous evidence to the court, in which she said she was “shocked” by Lawrence’s statement.

“Do you not believe him?” He asked her.

“No, I think he’s lying,” Hand said.

“He’s lying about having sex with you?” Fitzgerald asked.

“Absolutely,” Hand responded.

“Your account in other words is you remember being in the room, and you remember having sex with one person and that is Mr McGregor?” Fitzgerald asked.

“I remember being in the room and being raped by McGregor,” Hand said.

Fitzgerald put it to her that she had “two periods of loss of memory”, the first being when she claimed she fell asleep after the alleged assault.

He suggested to her that she was not asleep during this period and that in fact, “a lot went on during that period involving yourself, Mr McGregor, Mr Lawrence and [her friend]”.

He put it to her that she and McGregor were being “very affectionate” towards each other and “pulling out of each other”. Hand said she can’t remember.

Fitzgerald put it to her that at some point, she and McGregor went into the bedroom of the penthouse suite to have sex. Hand said no.

Fitzgerald put it to her that the door was left open and that she and McGregor could be heard clearly having sex, and that the noises indicated that “you were having a good time, not a bad time”.

“No. I don’t agree with any of this,” Hand said.

Fitzgerald put it to her that while she and McGregor were having sex in the bedroom of the penthouse, that Lawrence and her friend began to have sex in the sitting room of the penthouse.

“I don’t know,” Hand said.

“That is something I’m going to suggest that you do know, because you were coming in and out of the bedroom and you saw it on a number of occasions,” Fitzgerald said.

‘Another made up story’

Hand said she had no memory of that. “I think this is another made up story,” she told the court.

Fitzgerald put it to her that she did not appear in any way unhappy or stressed during those times.

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“I disagree. I can’t comment to it. It’s just another made up story,” Hand said.

Fitzgerald put it to her that this went on for “some considerable time” and that Lawrence had sex with her friends three times. He put it to her that at one point, when Lawrence was going to the bathroom, he could see Hand having consensual sex with McGregor a second time.

“Lies,” Hand said.

Hand agreed that when she returned to the penthouse with Lawrence, she noticed bruising on her arms and parts of the alleged assault began to come back to her.

Fitzgerald put her previous statement to her, in which she claimed she told Lawrence:
“You all put blind eyes to what Conor does to women?”.

“That’s very clear, that phrase?” Fitzgerald said.

“It’s a memory in my head,” Hand said.

“The reason I’m saying this is that on 5 January 2019, you used that phrase at that stage?” Fitzgerald said.

“Because I remember it,” Hand said.

“And it goes further. Not just do you remember what you said to him, but also what he said back,” Fitzgerald said.

This referred to Hand’s evidence on Wednesday, in which she told the court that Lawrence asked her, “What are you trying to say, Conor done that to you?”. She told him yes, and she told the court that he put his hand to his head and said “I can’t believe you were in that room and I was here while that was happening to you”.

Fitzgerald said: “It just seems we’ve two periods of gloom where you remember nothing, and then clouds part and there’s a crystal clear memory of what you said to James. Does that not seem strange to you?”

Hand said it does not seem strange, “not after what happened to me”.

The court was again shown CCTV footage from the Beacon Hotel on 9 December 2018.

The footage, which was taken at 6.51pm on the evening in question, showed Hand in the elevator with Lawrence appearing to give him a hug and bite his ear.

Fitzgerald put it to Ms Hand that at this point, according to her evidence, she would have remembered the alleged assault by McGregor after returning to the room with Lawrence.

Hand said she had no memory of it.

Fitzgerald put it to her that she was being very affectionate towards Lawrence.

“You don’t look like somebody who had been violently raped earlier that afternoon,” he said.

“I do see that in that CCTV footage but I’ve no memory of it,” Hand said.

Further CCTV footage, which showed 7.02pm and 7.29pm on the night in question, showed Hand and Lawrence appearing to leave the hotel and subsequently return.

Fitzgerald put it to Hand that she left the hotel with Lawrence during this period before returning. Hand said she had no memory of that.

“You might not remember now, but the camera doesn’t lie,” Fitzgerald said.

“I agree with you, but I just don’t have any memory,” Hand said.

Subsequent CCTV was shown to the court from 10.17pm on the night in question, which showed Hand and Lawrence in the elevator again before appearing to leave for the final time.

“You dont look on that clip like somebody who is distressed at having been violently raped earlier that day,” Fitzgerald said to Hand.

“But I was very, very drunk and I was hitting off walls, I can see that,” Hand said.

“You don’t look remotely like somebody who has been hit by a steam train of having been violently raped,” Fitzgerald continued.

“I don’t agree with you,” Hand said.

Fitzgerald put it to Hand that she had previously told the court that she had never found Lawrence attractive, and had also told Gardaí this while providing them with a statement in February 2019.

Referring to CCTV which appeared to show Hand kissing Lawrence on the cheek and “touching him in a playful manner”, Fitzgerald put it to Hand that the footage suggests that she was attracted to Lawrence.

“I can see that, but I have no memory of that. I can see myself being really, really drunk,” Hand said.

‘Witness is going to give same answer’

Mr Justice Owens interjected before further CCTV was shown to the court. “The witness is going to give the same answer,” the judge said.

He told Fitzgerald that he had had plenty of opportunity to put this to Hand.

“It’s of no use to you to ask the witness her opinion in relation to it,” he said, adding that she has “already given her answer that she wasn’t attracted to him” and that “she has no memory of it”.

Fitzgerald put it to Hand that she had told Lawrence that she had “really liked him a long time, or words to that effect”.

“I’ve no memory of saying that to him,” Hand said.

Fitzgerald suggested that after leaving the hotel with Lawrence for the first time, she suggested to him that they go to the Marble Arch pub. Hand said she never liked that pub and would never have suggested going there.

Fitzgerald put it to her that she started kissing Lawrence at one point and that they decided to go back to the penthouse in the Beacon Hotel to continue being affectionate.

He put it to her that she had consensual sex in the room with Lawrence and used a condom.

Hand said she thought that was “a made-up story”.

Fitzgerald put it to her that after having sex for the first time, that they had food in the penthouse, and that it was when they had sex for a second time, “it was at this point, for the first and only time, that you got upset in any way about anything, that you asked Lawrence what you were going to say to your boyfriend about bruises on your arms”.

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Hand said she probably did ask Lawrence what she would tell her former partner about bruising on her arms, “but I don’t remember any of that”.

Fitzgerald put it to Hand that she was attempting to “edit Mr Lawrence out of this case and he’s brought himself back into it”. He suggested to her that she did remember having consensual sex with Lawrence, but it “wasn’t a good look” to have consensual sex with the friend of the person that allegedly sexually assaulted her earlier on the night in question.

“No. I know what happened to me in that room,” Hand said.

Recording

On Thursday, during cross-examination by Remy Farrell SC, for McGregor, Hand rejected a suggestion that she had consensual sex with McGregor at the Beacon Hotel. 

A lengthy recording that was made by Hand’s partner when she returned home on the night of 9 December 2018 was also played in court, in which Hand could be heard telling her former partner that she had been raped. 

Under cross-examination this morning, Farrell asked Hand about what she had said on the recording.

Hand accepted that she had told her former partner lies about where she had been, saying she was “too scared” to tell him the truth.

When asked what lies she had told him, Hand said she lied about the people who had been present before the alleged assault.

Farrell said she told her former partner she had been in the Morgan Hotel in Dublin city centre. Hand repeated evidence that she had given previously in court, saying that that is where she thought she was because the interior was similar to the Beacon Hotel, where the alleged assault took place.

Farrell asked Hand why she had told her former partner that she had been at the Morgan Hotel with colleagues from work.

“I didn’t want to tell him the truth. I lied to my boyfriend, it’s as simple as that. Me lying to my boyfriend doesn’t take away what happened to me. Lying to your boyfriend is not a crime. What happened to me is a crime,” she told the court.

Farrell said it’s a “very different situation” being in a hotel room with two men, and he put it to Hand that she did not want to tell her former partner that she and a female friend were in a hotel room with two men. She agreed.

Farrell put it to Hand that she had told her former partner, “He told me he’d kill me” and asked if that was a reference to McGregor.

“It was, yeah,” she said.

Farrell put it to her that she “never once suggested in interviews with gardaí or in evidence that Mr McGregor threatened to kill you”.

“Is that something that happened or didn’t happen?” Farrell asked.

“I can’t remember,” Hand said.

Farrell put it to her that “this was all part of a web of lies”.

“I did lie to my boyfriend. I know that,” Hand said.

Farrell put it to her that on the recording she told her former partner that she had bitten McGregor on the face and he had said that he would still have a mark on his face, to which she had agreed with him.

Farrell said that she had been in an elevator with McGregor after the alleged assault, and that “surely” she was aware while speaking to her former partner that McGregor did not have a bite mark on his face. Hand said that she was confused.

“I remember biting him. I do remember biting him. All of this, I can’t remember any of this,” she said, referring to the audio recording, “but I know I did bite him.”

Referring to her claim for loss of earnings, Farrell put it to Hand that she had indicated that had it not been for the alleged assault, she would have set up her own salon.

Hand said she “would have loved to do that”, adding: “That was my dream.”

Farrell said she had been working part-time before the alleged assault and that setting up a salon was something that would require administrative skills.

“I’m sure it would,” Hand said.

Farrell put it to her that she would not necessarily have specific qualifications to set up her own salon.

“I feel I would,” Hand said.

He asked her whether, after McGregor had picked up her and her friend and proceeded to pick up Lawrence, this was because he was “looking for another man to make up – I hesitate to call it a double date”.

“I’m not too sure what he was thinking,” Hand said.

He asked if there was anything in the conversations before McGregor arrived at the salon that suggested that he was “coming to your party than that you were going to his”.

“No, because he said he’d come and get us,” Hand said.

Concluding his cross examination, Farrell referred to Hand’s previous evidence and asked her to identify what she could remember and what she could not.

He put it to her that she could remember getting to the Beacon Hotel and going up to the penthouse suite in the elevator but that she could not remember being affectionate towards McGregor in the elevator. Hand said she just remembered being in the elevator and going to the penthouse suite.

Farrell put it to her that she remembered “being raped” but that she did not seem to remember this for a period after it happened. Hand said she did not remember it had happened when she woke up.

Farrell put it to her that she remembered being back in the penthouse suite with Lawrence after the alleged assault and recalling it. Hand said she could remember being back in the room and “getting upset and little things coming back to me, but not absolutely everything”.

Farrell put it to her that she remembered going to her manager’s house and telling her that she had been raped, but not remembering what she said. Hand said she remembered telling her manager “that I was raped and choked, that’s all”.

Farrell put it to her that she remembered contacting friends that she had texted after the alleged assault and asking them to delete the messages. Hand said that she did.

The trial, before Mr Justice Owens and a jury of eight women and four men, continues.

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