Conor McGregor sexual assault trial begins

An Irish hairdresser has told a Dublin court that mixed martial arts fighter Conor McGregor violated her in a hotel room in December 2018.

Nikita Ni Laimhin has filed civil charges against McGregor and his friend James Lawrence, alleging they sexually assaulted her after a Christmas party. The MMA fighter’s lawyers have accused her of attempting extortion.

Ni Laimhin alleges the two men “in effect raped her,” the jury in Justice Alexander Owens’ courtroom was told on Tuesday, according to the Guardian.

According to her attorney John Gordon, the hairdresser lived with her partner and seven-year-old daughter in the Dublin suburb of Drimnagh at the time. She went out with some friends on the night of the alleged incident, having consumed alcohol and “some cocaine,” Gordon said, noting that she was also taking antidepressants at the time.

By Gordon’s account, Ni Laimhin was partying at her salon with a female friend and messaged McGregor at some point during the night. He drove over and picked them up, while also sharing “a bag of cocaine” with them. The group then went to a penthouse suite in the Beacon Hotel in the Irish capital.

McGregor allegedly went into a bedroom and “came on to” the plaintiff, Gordon alleged, but she refused his sexual advances because she was on her period. That’s when McGregor “pinned her down” and had his way with her, the attorney claimed.

“Now you know what it was like to be in the Octagon when I went down three times,” the MMA fighter allegedly said after the third time, Gordon claimed, calling it “a violent and vicious assault.”

After arriving home, Ni Laimhin called her mother, who called an ambulance. The court also heard the testimony of Dr Daniel Keane, who works as a forensic examiner in sexual assault cases, and was on duty at the Rotunda Hospital’s emergency room when Ni Laimhin was brought in.

Keane said she was “very upset” and was “shaking and crying.” He also described the “quite unusual” bruising on her face, arms, fingers, wrists, legs and lower back, as well as a scratch on her left breast. 

“In the face of this, Mr McGregor will tell you that this was a consensual encounter, that they were just having fun and a bit of rough sex,” Gordon told the jury.  “What he is saying is that she gave him a license to carry out what has to have been a brutal assault on her body.”

Gordon said McGregor was “enormously famous” and was considered a “hero” around Drimnagh, and said that his client was “brave” for demanding compensation to which she’s entitled.

McGregor’s attorneys have yet to present their case. A brief filed with the court said they would argue that Ni Laimhin was engaging in attempted extortion.

The world-famous MMA fighter has previously hinted at running for the presidency of Ireland in 2025, describing himself as the “only logical choice” to hold accountable the “thieves of the working man” and “disrupters of the family unit” currently in power.