Conor McGregor has been ordered to pay damages worth £150,000 following a civil case at Dublin High Court.
The MMA fighter and his associate James Lawrence were being sued over an alleged rape after a night out in December 2018.
McGregor and Lawrence denied all accusations during the case, which was heard after the director of public prosecution in Ireland chose not to pursue criminal charges.
And the verdict was announced on Friday after a jury of eight men and four women sat through eight days of evidence.
During the trial, the jury heard evidence from McGregor, Lawrence and Hand as well as doctors and two paramedics.
McGregor told the court he had consensual sex with Hand twice at the Beacon Hotel in Dublin and said Ms Hand also had sex with Lawrence. Hand denied having sex with Lawrence.
Hand was seeking general damages, special damages, aggravated damages and punitive damages in the case. Her senior counsel John Gordon told the court they had been ‘subjected to arrogant, distasteful, dishonest testimony’ by McGregor.
And he added: “There is no magic wand. Seeking vindication from you is of course a huge step but it doesn’t change what happened and doesn’t change fact she will live with this for the rest of her days, the fact she will always be a marked woman because she stood up to Conor McGregor.”
But before the jury made their decision, McGregor’s lawyer Remy Farrell told them in his closing argument on Tuesday.
He said: “The case is not about a hot take, or what colour writers in newspapers say it’s about, it doesn’t get reduced to one soundbite, it’s about evidence and nothing but the evidence.
“You may not like Mr McGregor. Mr McGregor is somebody who is hard to avoid, who elicits strong views, some people love him, some people very much do not. He’s not backwards about coming forwards with his own opinion about various things.
“It may be the case some, a lot, most of you, have negative views about Mr McGregor, some of you may even loathe him, there’s no point pretending it may be otherwise. It’s important I address that.”
Farrell added: “You may also be unimpressed with a man who leaves family home on Saturday, goes drinking with women in hotel penthouses… they’re all unlikely to endear him to you.
“I’m not asking you to like him, I’m asking you to look at the evidence. I’m not asking you to invite him to Sunday lunch, but to interrogate your own views.”
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