Conor McGregor: Ex-MMA star obeyed court over Nikita Hand CCTV footage
A judge has said he is satisfied Conor McGregor has done what was ordered regarding the sharing of CCTV footage, which was shown during the civil trial brought by Nikita Hand.In January, Judge Alex Owens ordered the former mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter not to share the footage and to give back or destroy any copies.The judge said the jury in the civil trial conclusively determined Mr McGregor raped Ms Hand in a Dublin hotel in December 2018.He said it was not open to McGregor to selectively use evidence in the public arena to suit himself.
The footage showed McGregor, Ms Hand and two others, James Lawrence and Danielle Kealy, in the car park and lift of the Beacon Hotel in Dublin, before and after McGregor assaulted Ms Hand.It was played to the court on multiple occasions during the trial and viewed by the jury during their deliberations.McGregor had claimed Ms Hand did not look like someone who had been seriously assaulted in the footage.Ms Hand became very upset when it was shown in court and said she was clearly very drunk in the footage.
On Thursday, Irish broadcaster RTÉ reported that lawyers for Ms Hand asked the judge to issue an injunction against McGregor, which they said would further restrain him from publishing or sharing the footage.Ms Hand's senior counsel, John Gordon, said McGregor was not clear enough in his affidavits to the court and that he would have expected McGregor to address a specific issue about causing anybody to receive the footage.Mr Gordon referred to a newspaper article which referenced a claim by an Italian business associate of McGregor, Gabriel Ernesto Rapisarda, who claimed after the trial that the imminent release of the footage would increase sales of McGregor's stout.However, the judge said he had to rely on affidavits from people and, according to McGregor's affidavit, he had taken the steps asked of him and that any urgency in January had now blown over.The judge said McGregor was the "author of his own misfortune" by sharing a social media post and that he was satisfied with the affidavits.Senior counsel Remy Farrell, for McGregor, agreed with the judge that his client had done everything he was asked to do.The judge awarded costs for this action against McGregor.
What happened in the Conor McGregor case?
Ms Hand, who accused McGregor of raping her, took a claim against him and another man, Mr Lawrence, for damages in a civil case.In the Irish courts, a civil action means - unlike a criminal case - there is no automatic anonymity for either the complainant or the accused.McGregor was ordered to pay her more than €248,000 (£206,000) in damages after a jury found he had sexually assaulted Ms Hand.The jury found that Mr Lawrence did not assault her.Speaking outside the court following the decision, Ms Hand said her story was "a reminder that no matter how afraid you might be to speak up, you have a voice".A judge later ruled that the MMA star must pay Ms Hand's legal costs.Last month, McGregor lodged an appeal against the judgment that he raped Ms Hand.
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