Nikita Hand sues Conor McGregor and her two former neighbours
Nikita Hand speaks to the media outside the High Court last week. Photo: Collins Courts
Nikita Hand is seeking aggravated and punitive damages against MMA fighter Conor McGregor over his conduct in his appeal of a jury's verdict.
Ms Hand has already successfully sued McGregor in the civil courts, claiming that she was raped, with the jury finding that McGregor assaulted her.
On Thursday, after the Court of Appeal threw out McGregor's appeal, Ms Hand lodged a new action against McGregor and two of her former neighbours.
Samantha O'Reilly and Steven Cummins
The neighbours, Samantha O'Reilly and her partner Steven Cummins, had signed affidavits alleging that Hand was assaulted by her then partner on the night of the alleged rape by McGregor in December 2018.
McGregor had sought to introduce new evidence from Ms O'Reilly and Mr Cummins, but these witnesses were dramatically pulled from the appeal case at the last minute.
Ms Hand had filed an affidavit saying she did not understand why the couple were telling 'lies' about her.
Punitive damages seek to punish a wrongdoer by ensuring they will not repeat the same conduct again
The new case filed by Ms Hand in the High Court seeks damages for 'malicious abuse of the process of the court by the defendants, and each of them, their respective agents and/or agents'. The cause of action in the case is listed a 'malicious prosecution'.
As well as general damages, Ms Hand is seeking aggravated and punitive damages against the three defendants.
Aggravated damages can be awarded where it is found that injury to the plaintiff has been exacerbated by the conduct of the defendant. It may be awarded when a court is satisfied that hurt was caused by 'outrageous', 'arrogant' or cavalier conduct by a defendant.
Punitive damages seek to punish a wrongdoer by ensuring they will not repeat the same conduct again. These damages do not seek to compensate a plaintiff, but seek to publicly mark a court's disapproval of the defendant's conduct. These damages often relate to the defendant's conduct during legal proceedings.
Conor McGregor lost his civil rape case appeal. Photo: PA
In a statement after the Court of Appeal ruling on Thursday, Ms Hand said the appeal had 'retraumatised me over and over again'.
After the verdict last November, Ms Hand's legal team complained that posts by McGregor and his fiancee Dee Devlin, which attacked the jury's verdict, could amount to contempt of court.
Ms Hand later made an application to injunct McGregor from posting CCTV evidence from the case online after an Italian stout distributor business partner of McGregor's claimed the footage would be posted online in order to change the public's view of the case.
Judge Alexander Owens ordered McGregor to destroy or return all copies of the CCTV footage that he had from the case. McGregor gave an undertaking not to distribute the footage.
Ms Hand was awarded €248,603.60 in damages by the High Court last November, and McGregor was also ordered to pay about €1.3m of her legal costs. He will also have to pay her legal costs in relation to his failed appeal.
McGregor claimed not to know why his legal team pulled Ms O'Reilly and Mr Cummins from giving evidence
The Court of Appeal judges decided to refer papers in the case to the Director of Public Prosecutions following an application from Ms Hand's counsel John Gordon SC, who alleged there had been perjury by Ms O'Reilly and Mr Cummins, as well as subornation of perjury by McGregor.
McGregor's friend James Lawrence, who was also sued by Ms Hand but was found by a jury not to have raped her, had appealed against the High Court's decision not to award him costs. This was also rejected by the Court of the Appeal, which cited evidence in the trial that McGregor was paying his friend's costs.
Nikita Hand speaks to the media outside the High Court last week. Photo: Collins Courts
News in 90 Seconds - Monday, August 4th
On a social media post on X last week, McGregor claimed not to know why his legal team pulled Ms O'Reilly and Mr Cummins from giving evidence.
He also said people were 'out of your f**king mind' if they thought he would be paying Mr Lawrence's legal costs. He wrote that he was in a 'world of fog' during the civil trial when he was asked on the stand if he was paying Mr Lawrence's legal bill and said 'I didn't know if I was'.
A transcript of the trial shows McGregor said 'I believe I did', when the trial judge asked if he had paid Mr Lawrence's legal fees.
In a post-verdict hearing on costs last December 5, Remy Farrell, senior counsel for McGregor, told the judge that Ms Hand's side were 'correct' to say that McGregor was paying Mr Lawrence's legal costs.
Nikita Hand leaves the Four Courts last week after Conor McGregor lost his appeal. Photo: PA
Mr McGregor's post said he would 'fight on with the truth and will continue to defend myself'.
Meanwhile, the DPP is considering whether to refer a booklet of documents relating to Ms O'Reilly and Mr Cummins to gardaí.
The documents include the affidavits both witnesses swore for the appeal, as well as new material that Ms Hand's legal team intended to put to Ms O'Reilly and Mr Cummins during their cross-examination, had both not pulled out.
According to garda sources familiar with perjury investigations, the DPP is expected to refer the documents to the Garda Commissioner, who will most likely assign the file to the Garda National Bureau of Criminal Investigations.
Such investigations typically involve corroborating the facts outlined in both sworn statements, and any allegations contained in any other documentation.
It is likely the suspects will be interviewed as part of the investigation, although this is not always the case.
Perjury files have been forwarded to the DPP based on an analysis without the suspect's knowledge, as was the case with Marie Farrell, once the garda's key witness in the garda investigation into the murder of Sophie Toscan Du Plantier.
Ms Farrell was investigated for perjury after a High Court judge sent the DPP conflicting statements that Ms Farrell had made in evidence. She was giving evidence in the High Court in 2014 in a case where Ian Bailey sued the State for wrongful arrest.
Following a garda investigation, the DPP decided Ms Farrell should not face charges. Attempts to contact Ms O'Reilly and Mr Cummins for comment at their home in Ballyfermot yesterday were unsuccessful.
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