Conor McGregor admits to using cocaine on night of alleged rape

Conor McGregor has admitted using cocaine on the night he allegedly raped a Dublin woman.

On Thursday, the Irish mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter answered in court “correctly” when John Gordon SC testified that he had cocaine in his car, along with the alleged victim and another witness.

The court also heard that during his first police interview, McGregor replied “no comment” to more than 100 questions and said he did so on the advice of his lawyer because he was in a state of “shock and fear”.

Dublin woman Nikita Hand has accused the sportsman of rape after a Christmas night out in December 2018. He denies all allegations.

The trial is a civil matter in Dublin’s High Court, after Ireland’s Director of Public Prosecutions declined to criminally charge Mr McGregor.

During the interview, conducted in January 2019, Mr McGregor was present at Dundrum Garda station where he attended an interview with his lawyer and provided a prepared written statement.

After this, Mr McGregor said “no comment” to questions as if he and Nikita Hand were from the same area of ​​Crumlin in Dublin.

The judge reminded the jury’s eight women and four men that no inference can be drawn from Mr McGregor’s refusal to comment. It is his legal right.

Mr McGregor said the statement was “to the point” when put to him, it was “short”.

“I would have loved to go to the top of the mountain with a microphone and shout from the hilltops, but because of the seriousness of the accusation I went to my lawyer and took their advice,” he said.

Mr McGregor also said he was “extremely petrified” during the Garda interview as it was the first time something like this had happened to him.

“I feel like I was just as good and cooperative. I followed their advice, I put myself in their hands. This is foreign to me. It’s the first time in my life something like this has happened to me.”

Later, Mr McGregor added: “These allegations are false, I am here to speak my piece and my truth, these allegations are lies, they are false.”

Mr McGregor claims Nikita Hand had consensual sex with him twice. He also claimed in court that Hand had sex with his associate and co-defendant James Lawrence. Nikita Hand says she never had sex with Mr. Lawrence.

Mr McGregor said he had one of his employees book the Beacon Hotel

John Gordon SC, representing Ms Hand, later presented evidence from Ms Hand’s gynecological assessments.

Tweezers were used to remove a tampon stuck in Ms Hand’s vagina.

Mr McGregor claims Ms Hand was not wearing a tampon while having sex with him. Asked how he thought it got there, Mr McGregor said: “Not to me”.

Mr McGregor was also asked whether he had paid Mr Lawrence’s legal costs.

“I think I did,” he said.

Later, when asked in cross-examination whether Ms Hand had experienced fear, Mr McGregor said there had been “no sign of fear, anxiety, anything other than pleasure, elation and excitement”.

Ms Hand, a former hair colourist from Dublin, is seeking financial damages, including loss of earnings, for the distress she suffered as a result of the alleged sexual assaults.

During previous hearings, she claimed Mr McGregor placed her in a chokehold and strangled her three times before raping her.

A paramedic who examined Ms Hand the day after the alleged attacks told the court on Tuesday that she had not seen such bruises on a patient in a long time.

Mr McGregor’s co-accused, Mr Lawrence, took the stand on Thursday afternoon.

He claimed he had consensual sex twice with Ms Hand in the hotel room when Mr McGregor left the hotel.

Mr Lawrence said Ms Hand was flirtatious and initiated the sex.

He added that in the room she was just upset about a small bruise and what she was going to tell her boyfriend about it.

Ms Hand previously told the court she did not remember ever having sex with Mr Lawrence, but recalled telling him she had been raped by the MMA fighter and had become distressed.

Her claim is that Mr Lawrence was shocked by her accusations and tried to comfort her at the time.

When asked if he was the “fall man” for McGregor, Mr Lawrence said “never in a million years”.

He added that he has six sisters and nieces and that he would not defend such actions if they had occurred.

In a civil proceeding in the Republic of Ireland – unlike a criminal proceeding – neither the complainant nor the accused are entitled to automatic anonymity during the legal proceedings.