Mixed martial arts star Conor McGregor has been found liable of sexual assault by an Irish court.
A 12-person jury ruled the 36-year-old fighter and another man forced sex on Nikita Ni Laimhin after a 2018 Christmas party, according to TMZ.
The BBC said eight women and four men heard evidence over the past two weeks before beginning deliberations Thursday afternoon. They rendered a civil judgement Friday.
McGregor’s accuser alleged the pugilist “brutally raped and battered” her in a Dublin hotel. The defendant claimed his encounter with the woman, who goes by Nikita Hand, was consensual. She’s also suing McGregor’s alleged accomplice.
The court will next decide whether to award damages to Laimhin, then determine what she’s owed for hardships including pain, suffering and distress, according to the BBC.
Irish Central reported jurors heard audio of McGregor’s accuser telling her boyfriend she was afraid to name her attacker because “he told me he’d kill me.”
The 35-year-old hairdresser reportedly said she showed her partner her bruised fists to prove she tried fighting off her attackers.
“He was choking me and I couldn’t breathe,” Laimhin said in a 2 a.m. recording. “He choked me three times.”
She claimed to have stopped by the holiday soiree for “coke and drink” with her coworkers and things turned ugly.
