LAWYERS for Nikita Hand has accused Conor McGregor of perjury and demanded he apologise to her for claiming he had new evidence that she was assaulted by her ex-partner on the night she alleges McGregor raped her.
The fighter had detailed this claim in affidavits but withdrew it as a ground of appeal today because his legal team said it was “unsustainable”.
McGregor, who is not in court, is appealing the High Court ruling last December that he assaulted Ms Hand and the subsequent decision to award her nearly €250,000.
McGregor had provided affidavits by Samantha O’Reilly and her partner Steven Cummins, former neighbours of Ms Hand when she lived in Drimnagh, to the Court of Appeal.
The couple had claimed they witnessed Ms Hand’s then partner Stephen Redmond assault her during an argument on the night of December 9 and 10, 2018, the night McGregor was found liable of assaulting her in the Beacon Hotel in Sandyford, and this was the probable source of injuries she has suffered.
Gardai photographed bruising on her body on December 11.
McGregor’s legal team were expected to cross-examine Ms Hand on these claims as part of his appeal.
The court has heard that she described this new evidence as “all lies”.
When the court sat this morning, Mark Mulholland KC, for McGregor said he was withdrawing the evidence because it was “unsustainable”.
McGregor had sought to introduce testimony from Northern Ireland former State Pathologist Dr Jack Crane to corroborate Ms O’Reilly’s testimony but they now accept evidence from Dr Crane would not be admissible.
John Gordon SC, for Ms Hand, described the manner of the withdrawal as “totally unacceptable”.
‘PUT THROUGH THE WRINGER’
He told the three-judge court: “My client has been put through the wringer yet again. She has answered in her affidavit that it was all lies. That has now been conceded.
“Now they waltz in here and think they can walk away from this.”
Mr Gordon said he should be allowed to cross-examine Ms O’Reilly, Mr Cummins and McGregor’s solicitor Michael Staines.
He added: “I should be allowed to refer the matter for perjury to the Director of Public Prosecutions.
APOLOGY WANTED
“Mr McGregor should be referred for subornation of perjury. An apology would be a start.”
Mr Mulholland replied: “This will be done through my client’s solicitor in due course, if appropriate.”
Presiding judge Ms Justice Isobel Kennedy said: “The withdrawal of ground 5 is taking place very late in the day and this is wholly unsatisfactory.”
Counsel for McGregor added: “We have looked at the case holistically and are now of the view that there is no corroboration of Ms O’Reilly’s evidence and it is not a sustainable ground.”
WITHDRAWAL ALLOWED
Ms Justice Kennedy said the court would allow the withdrawal of the application to bring in fresh evidence.
She added: “There is no point in forcing Mr McGregor to bring forward a motion he has no interest in proceeding with.”
The appeal continues on a number of other grounds, including the judge’s charge, McGregor’s ‘no comment’ answers in Garda interviews and how the case was conducted with regard to the UFC star’s cross-examination.
Remy Farrell SC, for McGregor, told the court: “There was a remarkable conflation of what he said in his garda interviews and what was put to him in cross-examination.
“These were rolled into a ball for the purposes of suggesting my client told gardai everything.
‘NEVER RESOLVED IT’
“This was raised with the trial judge and he never addressed it and never resolved it.
“Mr McGregor had a right to silence in garda interviews and a right not to incriminate himself.
“Ms Hand’s lawyers should not have been able to cross-examine him on that and try to portray that he was making the case in court that he had told the gardai everything whereas he had given ‘no comment’ answers to gardai.
“This should not have been put before the jury in the case.”
Ms Hand is in court with her partner Gary Foy, mother Deborah and some other family members.
The appeal is expected to last for two days.
