Woman claims MMA fighter strangled her before rape

A woman who accused Irish mixed martial artist Conor McGregor of raping her has told a court he strangled her three times and she thought she was going to die.

Nikita Hand has taken civil action against Mr McGregor and another man seeking damages over an alleged sexual assault in a Dublin hotel in December 2018.

Mr McGregor denies the allegations and his lawyers told an earlier hearing in the case that Ms Hand is attempting extortion.

In 2020, Ireland’s Director of Public Prosecutions decided not to prosecute either man due to a lack of evidence and no reasonable prospect of conviction.

In a civil proceeding in the Republic of Ireland, unlike a criminal proceeding, neither the complainant nor the two defendants are entitled to anonymity during the legal proceedings.

When she gave evidence on Wednesday, Ms Hand was visibly shaking and distressed, and the court had to be repeatedly adjourned so she could take a break.

The former hair colorist outlined her memories of the alleged attack, which began after a Christmas night out with colleagues on December 8, 2018.

Ms Hand had been drinking and admitted using cocaine when she contacted Mr McGregor that evening.

She said Mr McGregor picked her and a friend up from the salon in a chauffeured car to go to another party.

Ms Hand then went to a penthouse suite at the Beacon Hotel with a group of people including Mr McGregor and his security team.

Ms Hand told the court she told Mr McGregor she wasn’t there for sex – that she had a boyfriend and that she knew his partner.

But she claimed McGregor placed her in a chokehold on the hotel bed and strangled her three times.

“He pushed me down on the bed, I held my hands to my chest, he put his body weight on me,” she said.

Ms Hand said she could not breathe and struggled to free herself from his grasp.

“The only thing I could move was my head, so the only defense was to bite him,” she said.

“I bit him, I know I bit him. He didn’t like it. So he turned around and grabbed me by my neck and shoulders.”

Mrs Hand claimed she froze at this stage.

“I couldn’t move, I was staring at the bedpost thinking about my daughter, thinking I was going to die,” she said.

“I thought I would never see my daughter again.”

After this, she claimed that Mr McGregor had let her go and she apologized to him to “comfort him” so that “he wouldn’t hurt me again”.

Ms Hand said McGregor said: ‘That’s how I felt in the octagon and I had to tap myself three times.’

She added: “I thought it was such a weird thing to say. I promised him I wouldn’t tell anyone.

“I just let him do what he had to do so I could survive. I wasn’t myself anymore.”

After this, Ms Hand claims the MMA fighter took off her clothes and raped her.

In the time since the alleged attack, the court heard that Ms Hand has been unable to work due to mental health problems and has been living on disability benefits.

Her relationship with her boyfriend has ended and her mortgage is in arrears.

She has had psychotherapy but can no longer afford the treatment, the court was told.

The case continues.