Nikita Hand has filed fresh papers in the High Court against MMA fighter Conor McGregor and two individuals he had planned to call as witnesses in his unsuccessful appeal, but withdrew at the last minute.
On Thursday, Mr. McGregor lost his appeal against a civil jury finding that he raped Ms. Hand in a Dublin hotel in December 2018.
He has been ordered to pay all of Ms. Hand’s legal costs, along with €250,000 in damages.
In these new proceedings, Ms. Hand has filed a case against Mr. McGregor, Samantha O’Reilly, and Steven Cummins. It is understood that her claim relates to the “malicious abuse” of court processes.
In affidavits filed in support of Mr. McGregor’s appeal, Ms. O’Reilly and Mr. Cummins claimed they were former neighbours who had seen Ms. Hand being attacked by her then-partner through an upstairs window in her home after she had spent time with Mr. McGregor on the dates in question.
However, this key ground of appeal was withdrawn on the very day the Court of Appeal hearings began.
John Gordon SC, counsel for Ms. Hand, said the allegation had put her “through the wringer” again and suggested that Mr. McGregor should face a charge of inducing others to commit perjury on his behalf.
The Court of Appeal judges indicated they would refer the withdrawal of this evidence to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).
Ms. Hand described the allegation as “lies,” and said it could not have occurred as claimed due to the layout of the bedrooms in their respective homes. However, she was not given a chance to address this in court, as the “fresh evidence” was withdrawn.
In their judgment, delivered Thursday, the judges described the withdrawal as occurring under “mysterious” circumstances.
“The conduct of Mr. McGregor, in publicly introducing evidence which fundamentally called into question the correctness of the jury’s verdict and the testimony of Ms. Hand which had lead to it, only to abandon that evidence when it was about to be tested is behaviour which deserves to be marked by a palpable sign of the court’s displeasure and disapproval,” the judges said.
The court also awarded Ms. Hand separate costs associated with defending the withdrawn claims.
Outside court on Thursday, she said she could “finally move on and heal” after being “forced to relive” what had happened to her again.
“To every survivor out there, I know how hard it is,” she said. “But please don’t be silenced. You deserve to be heard. You also deserve justice.”
