A woman who has accused Irish mixed martial arts fighter Conor McGregor of raping her thought the 36-year-old was going to kill her, and said he ‘wasn’t taking no for an answer’, a court in Dublin has heard.
Nikita Ni Laimhin, who is also known as Nikita Hand, is claiming civil damages against Mr McGregor and another man, alleging she was sexually assaulted in December 2018.
Ms Ni Laimhin has accused Mr McGregor of pinning her to a bed and raping her in a hotel in Dublin.
The mother-of-one was left with extensive bruises and abrasions over her body, including purple and blue bruising along her hands and wrists, a bloodied scratch to her breast and tenderness to her neck after she was placed in a ‘choke-hold’ by Mr McGregor, the court was told.
In her evidence to the High Court in Dublin, Ms Ni Laimhin said that Mr McGregor kept telling her to ‘relax babe’, as she told him she did not feel comfortable.
The court heard on Tuesday that lawyers for Mr McGregor will say that the act between him and Ms Ni Laimhin – who has no automatic right to anonymity – was consensual.
The fighter, nicknamed ‘Notorious’, was in court to hear Justice Alexander Owens tell the jury it is alleged Ms Ni Laimhin was sexually assaulted by Mr McGregor and James Lawrence on December 9.
The judge said that it is alleged that the pair had ‘in effect raped her’.
The court was told Mr McGregor collected Ms Ni Laimhin, a Dublin hairdresser, and her friend following a Christmas party on December 8.
John Gordon SC for Ms Ni Laimhin said that the pair were known to each other as they were in the same age group, from the same area and had mutual friends and had been in contact at various times through social media.
At the time she lived in the Dublin suburb of Drimnagh with her partner and seven-year-old daughter.
She and had been out with friends on the night of the alleged incident.
Mr Gordon said that Mr McGregor was ‘enormously famous’ and was considered a ‘hero’ around Drimnagh.
He said that his client was ‘no angel’ and ‘doesn’t pretend to be an angel’.
On the night, she had been drinking and had taken some cocaine. The court also heard that she suffered from depression and had been on anti-depressants.
The court was told that later on in the night, Ms Ni Laimhin and two of her friends returned to her salon where they continued to party and at some point, she contacted Mr McGregor.
In her evidence to the court, Ms Ni Laimhin said that Mr McGregor collected her and a friend from the salon and understood they were to be taken to another party.
He sat in the backseat with the two women, while his driver took them around housing estates and beeped the horn.
They later went to the home of Mr Lawrence, who joined them in the car.
The court was told that Mr McGregor had a bag of cocaine, which was shared between the plaintiff and her friend.
The group, which included the complainant, Mr McGregor as well as his security team, then went to a penthouse suite in the Beacon Hotel in Dublin.
She told the court that they were all drinking and laughing and that the mood was ‘fine’.
She told the court that shortly after they arrived, Mr McGregor was on the toilet and told Ms Ni Laimhin to ‘suck on that’.
‘I remember then being in the bedroom and there was a security guard over by the window and another security guard closed the door between the two rooms. I remember thinking, why is there three men in the room and I’m the only one here,’ she added.
Ms Ni Laimhin was then left alone in the bedroom with Mr McGregor when he attempted to ‘come on to me’, and tried to kiss her and rub her face.
‘I knew what he was looking for. I said I don’t feel comfortable Conor. I said I know Dee (Mr McGregor’s partner) and I know her family.
‘I tried to talk him around, that I didn’t want to have sex and wasn’t there for anything like that.
‘He just wasn’t taking no for an answer. He pinned me to the bed and told me to relax babe. I remember putting my arms up to keep him away from me.
‘He kept pushing his weight down on top of me.’
It is alleged later by defence that she went on to have sex with Mr Lawrence, but Mr Gordon said she has no recollection of such an event ever happening.
The court also heard from Dr Daniel Keane, who works as a gynaecologist as well as a forensic examiner in sexual assault cases.
He told the court he was working at the emergency department at the Rotunda Hospital in Dublin when Ms Ni Laimhin was brought in by ambulance on December 10.
Dr Keane said she was ‘very upset’, and was ‘shaking and crying’.
He told the court how they had to get a blanket for her to sit on because of the pain she was in.
In his report, Ms Ni Laimhin had told him that morning that the alleged attacker had her by the neck and that he had stopped her from breathing.
He told the court that she also claimed she did not fight him anymore and thought he was going to kill her.
Dr Keane detailed extensive bruising across Ms Ni Laimhin’s body, including her face, arms, fingers, forearms, knuckles, legs, lower back and buttocks.
She also had a 9cm scratch on her left breast.
Her also stated that Ms Ni Laimhin was worried about a tampon she had been wearing on the night she was allegedly assaulted.
Dr Keane explained how he had to use forceps to remove the tampon which had been ‘wedged inside’.
He told the court how he has carried out hundreds of examinations on women, and said the extent of bruising on Ms Ni Laimhin was ‘quite unusual’.
Mr Gordon told the court: ‘In the face of this, Mr McGregor will tell you that this was a consensual encounter, that they were just having fun and a bit of rough sex. That’s his answer.
‘What did I say about common sense? Don’t be fooled into leaving it behind in this (court) room.
‘What he is saying is that she gave him a licence to carry out what has to have been a brutal assault on her body.’
The defence claimed in the evidence booklet that Ms Ni Laimhin had several opportunities to complain to people about how she was treated but did not.
It will also claim that Ms Ni Laimhin is engaged in an attempt at extortion, the court heard.
Mr Gordon said that his client is being called a ‘gold digger and a fraud’, adding: ‘Brave. But where is the bravery in this? Bravery ultimately sits with my client.
‘Because she pursued her mission for vindication and compensation to which she is entitled. And for these defendants to breezily and cheekily dispose of her claim is something you will consider in due course.’
Earlier the jury was sworn in at the High Court and told that they are judges of fact as to what happened and will have to draw a conclusion and it will be based on their decision.
The action is expected to last around two weeks.
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