A panel of three Supreme Court judges will meet on Thursday to consider Conor McGregor’s application for a further appeal over a civil jury finding that he assaulted Nikita Hand in a Dublin hotel.
The panel will consider the application in private and its decision on whether the Supreme Court will hear an appeal will be published on a future date.
The court will only hear an appeal if the panel, comprising Ms Justice Elizabeth Dunne, Ms Justice Iseult O’Malley and Mr Justice Séamus Woulfe, decide it raises an issue of public importance or that an appeal is in the interests of justice.
Last July, the Court of Appeal (CoA) dismissed Mr McGregor’s appeal against the High Court civil jury finding that he assaulted Ms Hand in Dublin’s Beacon Hotel on December 9th, 2018. The court upheld the jury’s award of almost €250,000 in damages to Ms Hand and directed she was entitled to her legal costs against Mr McGregor.
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The CoA dismissed a related appeal by James Lawrence, of Rafter’s Road, Drimnagh, against a decision by the High Court’s Mr Justice Alexander Owens, refusing to grant him legal costs against Ms Hand after the jury rejected her claim Mr Lawrence assaulted her after Mr McGregor left the hotel.
Since the CoA judgment, Mr McGregor instructed new lawyers, Mulholland Law, to represent him in his application to the Supreme Court for permission to appeal against the CoA decision.
Mulholland Law is representing Mr Lawrence in a similar application for an appeal over the refusal of costs.
Both applications will be considered on Thursday.
The law firm filed the applications with the Supreme Court in September. In a statement then, it said Mr McGregor and Mr Lawrence were “deeply disappointed” by the decisions made in the lower courts.
Mr Lawrence has taken separate High Court proceedings against Ms Hand, alleging a malicious abuse of process, it also said.
Solicitor Ciaran Mulholland said the firm believes the Supreme Court applications raise serious legal issues arising from the CoA judgment of July 31st last.
Mr McGregor’s application for an appeal focuses on his right to silence, “properly exercised on occasions”, Mr Mulholland said. Mr McGregor had replied “no comment” when questioned by gardaí about allegations by Ms Hand.
During his appeal last July, Mr McGregor sought to introduce new evidence that his lawyers said would call into question key aspects of Ms Hand’s testimony, including how she sustained serious bruising on her body.
[ ‘I know what happened in that room’: the full story of the Conor McGregor caseOpens in new window ]
It included sworn statements by Samantha O’Reilly and her partner Steven Cummins, who lived across the road from Ms Hand in Drimnagh, Dublin, for a time.
Ms O’Reilly claimed, from a room in her house, she heard and saw what appeared to be a physical altercation between Ms Hand and her then partner, Stephen Redmond, on the night of December 9/10th, 2018.
That evidence, Mr McGregor said, bolstered his insistence he was not responsible for extensive bruising on the body of Ms Hand, noted by a doctor on December 10th, 2018.
Ms Hand described the neighbours’ claims as “lies” and said Mr Redmond never assaulted her during their relationship.
The new evidence was unexpectedly withdrawn by Mr McGregor’s legal team on the morning of the appeal.
The CoA later granted an application by Ms Hand’s lawyers to refer material to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) for consideration of possible perjury.
The DPP directed gardaí to conduct an investigation which led to the arrests of a man and woman for interview. They were later released without charge and gardaí said a file will be sent to the DPP.
