Conor McGregor loses appeals over civil jury’s rape finding

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

Conor McGregor lost his appeal against a High Court civil jury’s finding that he raped Nikita Hand in the Beacon Hotel in Dublin on 9 December 2018. The Court of Appeal dismissed his challenge in its entirety; the proceedings were reported on 31 July 2025.

The jury awarded Ms Hand €248,603.60 in damages. It found that James Lawrence had not assaulted her. McGregor denied rape and said he and Ms Hand had consensual sex; Lawrence also said he had consensual sex with her. Ms Hand said she had no memory of sex with Lawrence and described his account as made up.

On 5 December 2024, Mr Justice Alexander Owens awarded Ms Hand her costs against McGregor on the normal party-party basis. He made no order for costs in the action against Lawrence, leaving each side to pay its own costs on that claim.

The Court of Appeal rejected McGregor’s arguments that the jury may have misunderstood the issue paper and that evidence of his ‘no comment’ answers to gardaí should not have been admitted. It found the admission was incorrect, but the trial judge’s warnings meant McGregor had not shown a real risk of an unfair trial. The court also rejected Lawrence’s appeal against the refusal of his costs.

McGregor and Lawrence sought permission to bring further appeals. The Supreme Court refused both applications, finding no matter of general public importance and no basis in the interests of justice for further appeals. Its decisions were communicated to the parties on 4 December 2025.