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Rape accuser Conor McGregor rejects claim CCTV footage “contradicts” her account
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Rape accuser Conor McGregor rejects claim CCTV footage “contradicts” her account

A woman who claims she was raped by Irish mixed martial artist Conor McGregor in a Dublin hotel has rejected claims CCTV footage “contradicts” her account of what happened.

Nikita Hand, also known as Nikita Ni Laimhin, is seeking civil damages against Mr McGregor and another man, claiming she was sexually assaulted in December 2018.

Ms Hand, who has no automatic right to anonymity, accused Mr McGregor of holding her down and raping her in a Dublin hotel bedroom.

On her third day of giving evidence at the High Court in Dublin, Ms Hand was cross-examined by Remy Farrell SC, Mr McGregor’s defense barrister.

The child’s mother was distraught and shaking as she was questioned by the lawyer.

CCTV footage from the evening of December 9, 2018 was played in court and shows Ms Hand in a lift with her friend Mr McGregor and second defendant James Lawrence.

Ms Hand told the court she had no recollection of the footage and found it “very difficult to watch”.

The court was also told Ms Hand deleted text messages and asked some of her friends and family to delete the text messages following the alleged attack.

Ms Hand said she did it because she was “fearing for her life”.

Ms Hand broke down in tears when asked to review some of the CCTV footage from the evening of the alleged attack.

“It was very difficult to watch and I don’t want to go through that again,” she told the court.

“I don’t remember. It’s not me and it’s not my character. You can see how vulnerable I am. I don’t want to have to look at it again.

“It’s me, but it’s not my character. It’s very disturbing to me.”

Mr Farrell told Ms Hand the reason it bothered her was because “everything in that CCTV footage contradicts the story you’ve been telling”.

But Mrs Hand told the lawyer she did not agree with him.

“That CCTV footage doesn’t take away what happened to me in that room with Conor. I know what happened. I was raped and brutally beaten by Conor and that CCTV doesn’t take anything away from what happened to me,” she added.

Mr Farrell also claimed Ms Hand appeared to “kiss” Mr McGregor’s arm as they got into the lift to leave the hotel room.

Ms Hand said she did not remember what happened in the lift.

Mr Farrell also claimed CCTV footage showed Ms Hand hugging Mr McGregor as they got into the lift, but Ms Hand said she did not see her hugging him.

The evidence also shows that a phone call was made from Ms Hand’s phone to Mr McGregor shortly before 6.30pm after he had left the hotel.

Mr Farrell asked the complainant why she wanted to “play a talk” with Mr McGregor, a man she said had “brutally raped her”.

Ms Hand told the court she did not remember calling him and did not know why.

She said there was a lot of waiting before she went back to the hotel room.

The court also heard she had a “confrontation” with her then-partner Stephen when she returned home after the alleged incident.

She said she told him what happened but didn’t tell him who he was.

The case continues.