Irish mixed martial arts fighter Conor McGregor raped a woman in a Dublin hotel, the city’s High Court has been told.
Nikita Ni Laimhin is claiming civil damages against Mr McGregor and another man, alleging she was sexually assaulted in 2018.
But, the court heard on Tuesday, Mr McGregor’s lawyers say Ms Ni Laimhin, who has no automatic right to anonymity, is attempting extortion.
The fighter, nicknamed ‘Notorious’, was in court to hear Justice Alexander Owens tell the jury it is alleged Ms Ni Laimhin was sexually assaulted by Mr McGregor and James Lawrence on December 9.
The judge said that it is alleged that the pair had ‘in effect raped her’.
The court was told Mr McGregor met Ms Ni Laimhin, a Dublin hairdresser, and her friend following a Christmas party on December 8.
John Gordon SC for Ms Ni Laimhin said that the pair were known to each other as they were in the same age group, from the same area and had mutual friends and had been in contact at various times through social media.
At the time she lived in the Dublin suburb of Drimnagh with her partner and seven-year-old daughter.
She had been out with friends on the night of the alleged incident.
Conor McGregor was seen arriving in court over a civil assault claim stemming from an alleged rape at a hotel in Dublin in 2018
The former UFC champion arriving at the High Court on Tuesday
The plaintiff Nikita Ni Laimhin outside the High Court
Mr Gordon said that Mr McGregor was ‘enormously famous’ and was considered a ‘hero’ around Drimnagh.
He said that his client was ‘no angel’ and ‘doesn’t pretend to be an angel’.
On the night, Ms Ni Laimhin had been drinking and had taken some cocaine. The court also heard that she suffered from depression and had been on anti-depressants.
The court was told that later on in the night, she and two of her friends returned to her salon where they continued to party and at some point she contacted Mr McGregor.
Mr McGregor collected her and her friend in his car, and Ms Ni Laimhin understood they were to be taken to another party.
He sat in the backseat with the two women, while his driver took them around housing estates and beeped the horn.
They later went to the home of Mr Lawrence, who joined them in the car.
The court was told that Mr McGregor had a bag of cocaine, which was shared between the athlete, the complainant and her friend.
The group then went to a penthouse suite in the Beacon Hotel in Dublin.
The court was told that they were all drinking and laughing.
At one point, Mr McGregor went into a bedroom and beckoned Ms Ni Laimhin to join him.
The court was told that Mr McGregor ‘came on to her’, but she did not want to have sexual intercourse with him as she was on her period.
Mr Gordon told the court that she alleged that Mr McGregor pinned her down on the bed and that she was no physical match for him.
‘She will tell you that she was nervous, that she tried to push him off her but she was completely unable to do so,’ he added.
‘You will see pictures of her hands and wrists which are black and blue. You will see that her left breast has a bloodied scratch. The scratch is there because she was wearing a watch and had her hands up to protect herself. She was pressed down on and the watch scarred her breast.
‘Mr McGregor then flips her over and puts her arm in a lock and draws her up by the neck. She can’t breathe. And he does it again.
‘By the third time he does it, she gives up. She can’t resist this any more. In the course of this he says: ‘Now you know what it was like to be in the Octagon when I went down three times.’
‘She was at this point completely terrified. She subjected herself to what was about to happen, which was a violent and vicious assault.’
It is alleged later that she had sex with Mr Lawrence, but Mr Gordon said she has no recollection of such an event ever happening.
A spokesperson for McGregor at the time claimed it was a ‘rumour’ and ‘absolutely false’
The woman making the claim said the incident occurred at Dublin’s Beacon Hotel
The proceedings are expected to last two weeks and the judge has asked the jury to make themselves available for three weeks
McGregor has been in a relationship with Dee Devlin since 2008. They have four childrenÂ
Ms Ni Laimhin later went home and visited her mother, who called 999. Ms Ni Laimhin was taken to hospital in an ambulance. The court was told that she was shaking and in pain while being transferred to hospital.
Mr Gordon said: ‘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. That’s his answer.
‘What did I say about common sense? Don’t be fooled into leaving it behind in this (court) room.
‘What he is saying is that she gave him a licence to carry out what has to have been a brutal assault on her body.’
The defence claimed in the evidence booklet that Ms Ni Laimhin had several opportunities to complain to people about how she was treated but did not.
It will also claim that Ms Ni Laimhin is engaged in an attempt at extortion, the court heard.
Mr Gordon said that his client is being called a ‘gold digger and a fraud’, adding: ‘Brave. But where is the bravery in this? Bravery ultimately sits with my client.
‘Because she pursued her mission for vindication and compensation to which she is entitled. And for these defendants to breezily and cheekily dispose of her claim is something you will consider in due course.’
Earlier the jury was sworn in and told that they are judges of fact as to what happened and will have to draw a conclusion and it will be based on their decision.
The proceedings are expected to last around two weeks.
