Nikita Hand is once again suing Conor McGregor.
In November, the Irish megastar was ordered to pay $285,000 in damages plus legal fees totaling $1.5 million to Nikita Hand, the woman who accused him of sexually assaulting her at a Dublin hotel in 2018. Shorty after, McGregor filed an appeal on the grounds that his lawyers believed his answers to police during interviews should not have been presented to the jury. McGregor's barrister also argued that a question on the "issue paper" given to the jury to help them decide their verdict was improperly worded.
Three senior judges at the Court of Appeal in Dublin dismissed the appeal on all grounds, noting that McGregor's lawyers had not proved there was "a real risk of unfair trial."
At the beginning of the process, Ireland's Court of Appeal was told that McGregor had withdrawn an application to have new evidence entered at the appeal. According to a report from the BBC, McGregor intended to call Samantha O'Reilly and Steven Cummins, former neighbors of Hand, to give evidence at his appeal before withdrawing the application.
The senior judges said it was "somewhat mysterious" that what they described as an "important and contentious" part of the appeal had been "cast aside."
McGregor initially claimed that fresh evidence provided by O’Reilly and Cummins bolstered his insistence that he was not responsible for bruising on Hand’s body following the alleged assault.
Hand is Seeking Damages Against Conor McGregor and Her Former Neighbors
While McGregor was not in court on Thursday, Hand was present and expressed her gratitude for the courts decision to dismiss the appeal. It was also revealed that Hand's legal team have began proceedings to seek damages from McGregor, O'Reilly, and Cummins.
This appeal has retraumatised me over and over again, being forced to relive it, what happened has had a huge impact on me," Hand said in a statement
She added, "To every survivor out there, I know how hard it is, but please, don't be silenced. You deserve to be heard, you also deserve justice. Today, I can finally move on and try to heal.
