Jury begins deliberations in MMA fighter alleged rape case

The jury in a civil case towards Conor McGregor will proceed its deliberations on the Excessive Court docket in Dublin on Friday.

Mr McGregor is dealing with an accusation within the civil motion that he “brutally raped and battered” Nikita Hand at a resort in south Dublin in December 2018.

The Irish sports activities star beforehand instructed the court docket he had consensual intercourse with Ms Hand in a penthouse on the Beacon Lodge.

Ms Hand, who’s also referred to as Nikita Ni Laimhin, can also be suing one other man, James Lawrence, for assault.

Following two weeks of proof and quite a lot of days listening to closing remarks, the jury of eight ladies and 4 males began their deliberations at 15:03 native time on Thursday.

Whereas within the jury room, the jury could have a difficulty paper the place they report their selections.

It states two questions.

The primary is “did Mr McGregor assault Ms Hand?” and the second is “did Mr Lawrence assault Ms Hand?”.

They need to reply “sure” or “no” to the questions. In the event that they reply “no” to each then the matter ends there and Ms Hand loses her case.

In the event that they reply “sure” to a number of, then the jury will transfer to the subsequent stage and assess what damages to award Ms Hand.

Justice Owens warned the jury to not discuss to anybody about their deliberations, together with their family members who he stated could also be within the case.

He instructed the jury to “take a look at all of the proof”.

Whereas outlining the abstract of Mr McGregor’s proof, the jury have been instructed that they can’t draw any adversarial inference from his “no remark” solutions to police weeks after the alleged incident.

Justice Owens reminded the jury, that in the event that they attain a verdict to award damages, there are a selection of forms of damages to contemplate on this case.

This additionally contains harm that covers ache and struggling so far and into the longer term, in addition to misery and recognition of vindication.

Additionally aggravated harm which is fee to recognition of offences that shock the plaintiff.

He urged them to watch out to not double rely and to make sure they write every part down.

Exemplary damages are punitive damages that are to punish the defendant.

He stated it needs to be an offence that’s actually severe, and that they’ll regard rape as actually severe.

Justice Owens additionally stated that somebody making an attempt to cowl up issues or making statements which might be “patently unfaithful” are additionally severe.

The jury have been additionally instructed to maintain each of their ft “firmly on the bottom” and to “use their frequent sense”.

The decide added that in the event that they attain the stage of awarding damages, and when assessing what to provide when for lack of earnings, to deduct 15% from their determine.

He instructed them this was known as a deduction for contingencies as we reside in “an unsure world”, and the courts say this stuff need to be taken into consideration.

In a Republic of Eire civil motion – versus a prison case – neither the complainant nor the accused are entitled to automated anonymity through the court docket proceedings.