A High Court jury may be sent out to consider their verdict on Wednesday on a woman’s civil action for damages for assault arising from being allegedly raped by Conor McGregor in a Dublin hotel.
The eight women and four men also have to decide Nikita Hand’s claim for damages against James Lawrence, of Rafter’s Road, Drimnagh, over alleged assault of her through allegedly having sex with her without her consent in the Beacon hotel.
Both men deny the claims by the 35-year-old hair colourist and have pleaded they separately had consensual sex with Ms Hand at the hotel on December 9th, 2018.
The jury heard closing speeches by lawyers for Ms Hand and both respondents on Tuesday after which Mr Justice Alexander Owens began his charge addressing, among other things, the issue of consent to sexual activity.
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He asked the jury to be cautious about drawing conclusions about what they think a person alleging sexual assault should or should not have done. A person subject to a stressful event such as rape may respond to that in ways that might seem irrational, especially if “befuddled by consumption of intoxicants”, he said.
The charge resumes on Wednesday and the next stage involves the jury beginning their deliberations.
They must first decide whether either, or both men, assaulted Ms Hand. If they decide in her favour, they only then proceed to assess damages.
Closing the case for Ms Hand on Tuesday, John Gordon SC said Mr McGregor had subjected her to a “savage” and “violent” assault and was a “devious coward” who did not have “the decency” to own up to what he did.
There was “no shortage of irrefutable evidence” that Ms Hand had been held in a “stranglehold” by Mr McGregor after which she had “basically surrendered” to him in the hotel, counsel said.
Ms Hand had called medical evidence, including from a doctor who examined her in the Rotunda hospital sexual assault unit the day after the alleged assault. He had said hers was one of the worst cases he had seen and he had never had to deal with a case where a tampon had been wedged into a woman’s vagina.
Closing the case for Mr McGregor, Remy Farrell SC it was “absolutely vital” the jury decide the claims on the evidence, not whether they may “love” or “loathe” Mr McGregor.
Ms Hand, he said, had told “persistent” lies and “absolute untruths” about several matters before, during and after the events in the Beacon hotel.
The jury was urged to consider this case as about rape and to disregard a lot of matters as “just noise” but CCTV, text messages from Ms Hand to her then boyfriend, and other evidence, including of Danielle Kealey, who was in the hotel with Ms Hand, was not “just noise”, he said.
Ms Hand has said she remembered some things but not others, he said. The “remarkable feature” of her memory loss was that it had blocked the memory not just of allegedly traumatic events but also other non-traumatic events that suggested the alleged rape did not occur.
Closing the case for Mr Lawrence, John Fitzgerald SC said Ms Hand’s case against Mr Lawrence was “bizarre” and the jury should find his client’s account of events was correct.
The case had come to court on the basis Ms Hand had no recollection of Mr Lawrence having sex with her but, in her evidence, it also became “some form of conspiracy”. Ms Hand had said Mr Lawrence gave gardaí a “made-up story” and was lying about having sex with her, counsel said.
“Why is Mr Lawrence, who does not believe he did anything to Ms Hand, here?” counsel asked. There was no basis for suggestions Mr Lawrence was some “fall guy” in relation to the claim Ms Hand was raped by Mr McGregor, he said.
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