Conor McGregor ordered to hand over CCTV footage linked to sexual assault case

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The High Court in Dublin, Ireland, has banned Conor McGregor from sharing CCTV footage from the night of his adjudicated assault of Nikita Hand.

A jury found in a civil case last November that McGregor sexually assaulted Ms Hand, who had accused him of rape in a Dublin hotel in 2018.

The latest legal move came on Thursday after complaints were made to court by Ms Hand’s legal representation over perceived threats to release the footage on social media.

Earlier in January, Irish media outlets, including The Sunday World, reported that a business partner of McGregor’s had claimed that the CCTV footage would be released.

Gabriel Ernesto Rapisarda runs the distribution company for McGregor’s Forged Irish Stout beer brand in Italy. Raisarda stated: “I think there will be a positive explosion of the brand from January when the video of Nikita…[is released].”

As a consequence, on Thursday, Judge Alex Owens ordered McGregor, who was not present in court, to delete any electronic footage he possessed and to surrender any data drives containing it.

The proceedings were reported by the BBC and RTÉ, among others.

The judge also ordered Mr McGregor to contact any person to whom he has released the footage and instruct them to return it to him.

The judge gave him until February 12th to provide an affidavit to the court on steps he has taken to retrieve the material and prevent its distribution.

He said the footage was provided by the Irish police as part of the discovery process for the civil action and was for use only to prepare for the action and while the action was underway.

Additionally, McGregor was accused during Thursday’s proceedings of undermining the jury’s decision with social media posts. Ray Boland, representing Ms Hand, told the court that McGregor had “scandalized the court” with social media postings stating that Ms Hand had lied.

Judge Owens stated: “You cannot call a person a liar, that’s not on, that’s implying someone has perjured themselves in court.

He added: “The facts are clear, Nikita Hand sued Conor McGregor, a jury found McGregor raped Nikita Hand. That has been conclusively determined.”

Conor McGregor has signaled his intention to appeal the November 2024 verdict.

This week, it emerged that he is being sued for another alleged sexual assault at an NBA game in Miami.

About Neal Flanagan 1155 Articles
Based in Northern Ireland, Neal Flanagan is a former newspaper journalist and copy editor. In addition to reporting for POST Wrestling, he co-hosts The Wellness Policy podcast with Wai Ting and Jordan Goodman.