A woman accusing Conor McGregor of sexually assaulting her in a Dublin hotel in 2018 testified in an Irish court on Tuesday at the start of a civil case seeking financial damages against the mixed martial arts star. McGregor was present at the High Court in Dublin for the beginning of the case, which is expected to last about two weeks. The alleged incident took place on December 9, 2018, and the civil action was filed in 2021. McGregor and another man, James Lawrence, are the defendants.
A spokesperson for McGregor has previously denied the allegations, stating that Irish police had investigated and declined to bring criminal charges. In her testimony, the woman recounted telling McGregor she didn’t feel comfortable after being left alone with him in a bedroom in the penthouse suite of a Dublin hotel. “I tried to talk him around, that I didn’t want to have sex and wasn’t there for anything like that,” she told the courtroom. “He just wasn’t taking no for an answer.”
John Gordon, the woman’s lawyer, noted that she and McGregor were known to each other, sharing the same age group, geographical area, mutual friends, and having been in contact through social media at various times.
Daniel Keane, a gynecologist and forensic examiner in sexual assault cases, also testified on the first day of the case. He stated that the woman was “shaking and crying” when she was brought in by ambulance to the hospital where he was working the day after the alleged assault. Keane described the bruising on the woman’s body as “quite unusual” in its extent.
Lawyers for McGregor are expected to argue that the act between him and the woman was consensual. It remains unclear when they will present their arguments in the courtroom.
