Conor McGregor, a mixed martial arts athlete, is seeking to provide new evidence in his appeal against a civil court jury’s decision that he assaulted hairstylist Nikita Hand in a Dublin hotel over six years ago, reports RTE.
Following an altercation at Sandyford’s Beacon Hotel in December 2018, Ms. Hand filed a high court lawsuit against Mr. McGregor for damages.
She received just about €250,000 in damages when the jury determined that he had assaulted her, reports RTE.
The jury concluded that Ms. Hand was not assaulted by Mr. McGregor’s acquaintance James Lawrence, who claimed to have had consensual intercourse with her later that same day.
Mr. McGregor is contesting the decision.
Mr. Lawrence is contesting the High Court’s ruling that he was not entitled to his costs, reports RTE.
The court had learnt that Mr. McGregor was paying his legal bills.
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According to Ray Boland, Ms. Hand’s senior counsel, the parties had decided that the appeals should be handled collectively and that the hearing would take around two days, reports RTE.
He informed the court that one of Mr. McGregor’s appeal grounds was purportedly new evidence.
The court heard that Mr. McGregor’s side provided Ms. Hand with two fresh affidavits, but it did not specify what the supposed new evidence included, reports RTE.
Remy Farrell, Mr. McGregor’s senior counsel, earlier informed the High Court that the judge’s decision for the jury to hear that Mr. McGregor did not respond to over 100 questions in garda interviews would be one of the additional reasons in the appeal.
He stated that another reason would be related to the jury’s inquiry, which did not specifically mention sexual assault but rather asked whether Mr. McGregor had “assaulted” Ms. Hand, reports RTE.
Junior Counsel Shelley Horan and Belfast-based King’s Counsel Mark Mullholland accompanied Mr. Farrell to the Court of Appeal.
Mr. Justice Seamus Noonan, a judge in the appeal court, stated that it was “one thing to say” that new evidence will be presented, but that the Court of Appeal would have to determine whether or not to allow its introduction, reports RTE.
According to him, the appellant must persuade the judge that the evidence was both trustworthy and novel.
According to the court, such a request would need to be considered before an appeal could be filed.
A date for the application’s hearing is probably going to be determined when the matter returns to court on May 2, reports RTE.
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