Former UFC fighter Conor McGregor speaks within the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room of the White Home in Washington, D.C., on March 17.
Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA/Bloomberg by way of Getty Pictures
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Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA/Bloomberg by way of Getty Pictures
LONDON — The blended martial arts fighter Conor McGregor — who’s from Eire and visited President Trump on the White Home for St. Patrick’s Day this 12 months — has misplaced his attraction in a rape case.
Eire’s Court docket of Appeals dominated in opposition to him Thursday, that means a decrease court docket ruling in a civil case nonetheless holds, and McGregor should pay damages to his accuser.
Final November, a jury discovered the MMA fighter civilly accountable for assault. It ordered him to pay almost 250,000 euros ($285,000) in damages, and about 1.3 million euros ($1.5 million) in authorized prices, to Nikita Hand, who says he “brutally raped and battered” her in a Dublin lodge in 2018.
McGregor, 37, denies that, saying that they had consensual intercourse, and that Hand fabricated any assault.
Hand, 35, had sued McGregor in civil court docket, after prosecutors declined to carry prison fees.
McGregor appealed the jury’s order, on grounds that a few of the directions given to the jury have been complicated, and that McGregor’s feedback to police mustn’t have been admitted into proof. However his attorneys didn’t submit extra proof.
Three judges on the Court docket of Appeals unanimously rejected his attraction Thursday on all grounds. In addition they discovered that McGregor had paid a buddy to testify on his behalf, and refused to award the buddy reimbursement for authorized prices.
McGregor was the face of the Final Combating Championship, or UFC, and has hinted on social media a few comeback.
Out of the ring, he has emerged as a far-right determine in Irish politics, criticizing immigration and mainstream politicians. He visited President Trump on the White Home in March, and has mentioned he might run for Irish president, a largely ceremonial position presently held by 84-year-old poet and human rights activist Michael Higgins.
Hand was within the Dublin courtroom for Thursday’s appeals ruling; McGregor was not. Afterward, Hand informed reporters the proceedings had “retraumatized” her, however that she now hopes to “transfer on and attempt to heal.” She thanked her attorneys and a rape disaster middle.
McGregor faces one other sexual assault lawsuit in Florida, for allegedly attacking a girl in 2023 within the lavatory of a NBA basketball area.
