Nikita Hand's lawyers to address Conor McGregor's withdrawal of ‘fresh evidence' in appeal over civil rape case
She had alleged he raped her in a Dublin hotel.
John Gordon SC, for Ms Hand, told the Court of Appeal on Wednesday he wanted to address the court regarding the withdrawal of an application to adduce fresh evidence from neighbours of Ms Hand over an alleged altercation between Ms Hand and her then partner within hours of Ms Hand's encounter with Mr McGregor on December 9th, 2018.
Ms Hand had described the claims in the fresh evidence as lies and said her then partner, Stephen Redmond, had never assaulted her during their relationship.
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On Tuesday, Mr Gordon said the withdrawal of the application amounted to conceding Ms Hand's description and he raised the possibility of seeking a referral to the DPP to consider possible perjury.
Ms Justice Isobel Kennedy, presiding, said they would hear Mr Gordon at the conclusion of the hearing of a linked appeal by Mr McGregor's friend James Lawrence.
Submissions in Mr McGregor's appeal had concluded before the Court of Appeal on Tuesday and the court is hearing submissions on Wednesday morning in the appeal by Mr Lawrence, whom the jury found did not assault Ms Hand in Dublin's Beacon Hotel, against a refusal to award him costs against her.
Those submissions, by John FitzGerald SC, are expected to conclude by lunchtime. Mr Fitzgerald submitted Mr Lawrence was entitled to his costs on grounds including the normal costs rule, that costs go to the winning party. The jury had found his client had not assaulted Ms Hand, he said.
Ms Hand, accompanied by her partner Gary Foy and mother Deborah, is back in court for the appeal.
Mr McGregor has appealed a civil jury's finding last November that he assaulted Ms Hand in the Beacon Hotel, Sandyford, Dublin, on December 9th, 2018. Ms Hand was awarded €250,000 damages and got her legal costs against Mr McGregor.
The 36-year-old mother of one told the jury Mr McGregor raped her after she and a friend went with him and Mr Lawrence to the hotel.
She said she told Mr McGregor she did not want to have sexual intercourse with him, he 'would not take no for an answer', she was wearing a tampon at the time and would not have sex during her period.
Mr McGregor denied rape and said he and Ms Hand had 'fully consensual' and 'vigorous' sex. He said he was shocked when later shown photos of bruising on Ms Hand, that he had not caused them and there was no tampon.
Ms Hand denied Mr Lawrence's separate claim she had consensual sex with him after Mr McGregor left the hotel, saying she had no memory of having sex with him.
When charging the jury, Mr Justice Owens told them, if a person proves they were subject by another person to non-consensual sexual activity, that is the tort or civil wrong of assault.
The jury found Mr McGregor had assaulted Ms Hand and that Mr Lawrence (35), of Rafter's Road, Drimnagh, had not assaulted her.
Mr McGregor claimed fresh evidence came into his possession after the case which provided a 'plausible' explanation for bruising on Ms Hand's body.
That included sworn claims by Samantha O'Reilly, a former neighbour of Ms Hand in Drimnagh, that, from a bedroom in her house, she observed a physical row between Ms Hand and her then partner Stephen Redmond at their home on the night of December 9th/10th, 2018.
Ms Hand described the claims by Ms O'Reilly, and claims by Ms O'Reilly's partner Steven Cummins that he heard screaming from Ms Hand's home on the night in question as 'lies' and said Mr Redmond never assaulted her at any time in their relationship.
At the outset of Mr McGregor's appeal on Tuesday, his lawyers said they were withdrawing their applications to adduce that evidence.
Mr Gordon, for Ms Hand, said he was 'shocked' at the withdrawal application.
He said Ms Hand had been 'put through the wringer yet again' and had answered the claims by saying they were 'lies', which he said was now conceded. There might be an issue about referring matters to the DPP for consideration of perjury proceedings, he added.
The appeal proceeded with submissions from Remy Farrell SC focused on two key grounds. The first was alleged errors of law in how Mr Gordon and the trial judge approached Mr McGregor's 'no comment' responses, made when interviewed by gardaí after giving them a statement in response to Ms Hand's claim of rape.
The trial judge also erred in directing the jury be asked to answer whether or not Mr McGregor 'assaulted' Ms Hand rather than 'sexually assaulted' her, Mr Farrell submitted.
Opposing the appeal for Ms Hand, Ray Boland SC argued Mr McGregor had 'put himself out there as trying to be as co-operative with the gardaí as possible' and in that context his no comment responses were relevant.
On the second issue, counsel said this was 'assault by rape' attendant on physical assault and it was 'an insult to the intelligence of the jury to suggest they did not know what the case was about'.
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