Conor McGregor in court accused of raping woman in hotel room (Picture: PA)
A woman who has accused Irish mixed martial arts fighter Conor McGregor of raping her thought the 36-year-old was going to kill her, and said he ‘wasn’t taking no for an answer’, a court in Dublin has heard.
Nikita Ni Laimhin, who is also known as Nikita Hand, is claiming civil damages against Mr McGregor and another man, alleging she was sexually assaulted in December 2018.
Ms Ni Laimhin has accused Mr McGregor of pinning her to a bed and raping her in a hotel in Dublin.
The mother-of-one was left with extensive bruises and abrasions over her body, including purple and blue bruising along her hands and wrists, a bloodied scratch to her breast and tenderness to her neck after she was placed in a ‘choke-hold’ by Mr McGregor, the court was told.
Nikita Ni Laimhin (left) accused the UFC fighter of assaulting her after a Christmas party in 2018 (Picture: PA Wire)
In her evidence to the High Court in Dublin, Ms Ni Laimhin said that Mr McGregor kept telling her to ‘relax babe’, as she told him she did not feel comfortable.
The court heard on Tuesday that lawyers for Mr McGregor will say that the act between him and Ms Ni Laimhin – who has no automatic right to anonymity – was consensual.
The fighter, nicknamed ‘Notorious’, was in court to hear Justice Alexander Owens tell the jury it is alleged Ms Ni Laimhin was sexually assaulted by Mr McGregor and James Lawrence on December 9.
The judge said that it is alleged that the pair had ‘in effect raped her’.
The court was told Mr McGregor collected Ms Ni Laimhin, a Dublin hairdresser, and her friend following a Christmas party on December 8.
John Gordon SC for Ms Ni Laimhin said that the pair were known to each other as they were in the same age group, from the same area and had mutual friends and had been in contact at various times through social media.
At the time she lived in the Dublin suburb of Drimnagh with her partner and seven-year-old daughter.
McGregor is accused of pinning his victim to the bed before assaulting her (Picture: Getty)
She and had been out with friends on the night of the alleged incident.
Mr Gordon said that Mr McGregor was ‘enormously famous’ and was considered a ‘hero’ around Drimnagh.
He said that his client was ‘no angel’ and ‘doesn’t pretend to be an angel’.
On the night, she had been drinking and had taken some cocaine. The court also heard that she suffered from depression and had been on anti-depressants.
The court was told that later on in the night, Ms Ni Laimhin and two of her friends returned to her salon where they continued to party and at some point, she contacted Mr McGregor.
In her evidence to the court, Ms Ni Laimhin said that Mr McGregor collected her and a friend from the salon and understood they were to be taken to another party.
He sat in the backseat with the …read more
Source:: Metro
