Bruises can take between 24 and 48 hours to appear, a forensic physician has told the civil trial in which mixed martial arts fighter Conor McGregor is accused of rape.
Dr Basil John Farnan, the former principal forensic medical officer for Northern Ireland, was the last witness to be called in Nikita Hand’s action against Mr McGregor and his friend James Lawrence.
The mother of one, a hair colourist from Drimnagh in Dublin, has sued for damages, claiming she was raped by both men in a penthouse suite at the Beacon Hotel in Sandyford on December 9, 2018. The claims are rejected by both men, who claim they each had consensual sex with Ms Hand.
Ms Hand (35) claims she was choked and raped by Mr McGregor (36) in the penthouse bedroom some time between 12.30pm and 6pm that day and says she has no memory of any sexual involvement with Mr Lawrence. Both men claim she is lying.
The jury has been provided with evidence that Ms Hand was brought by ambulance to the Sexual Assault Treatment Unit of the Rotunda Hospital around 9.30am the following day in a terrified state and with extensive bruising all over her body. A general practitioner testified that internal bruising on her neck was consistent with Ms Hand’s account.
There has also been evidence that a tampon was wedged so far inside Ms Hand that it had to be removed with a forceps at the hospital.
Both Mr McGregor and Mr Lawrence say they did not cause the bruising and that it was not present after they had sex with her. They also claim she was not wearing a tampon.
Dr Farnan appeared as a witness for Mr McGregor yesterday, the eighth day of the civil case.
He told Mr McGregor’s counsel, Remy Farrell SC, that bruises were a discolouration of the skin.
He said that following trauma, blood becomes loose between the tissues and can move towards the skin.
Dr Farnan said that if bruising was deep, it might take 24 to 48 hours to come up.
He said that not only can there be a delay between a trauma and bruises appearing, but that bruises can appear in a slightly different position to the trauma, can change in size and shape and can change in colour.
He also told Mr Farrell there was a website which stated that antidepressant medication sertraline increased the propensity for bruising. The trial had earlier heard this was a medication Ms Hand was taking at the time of the alleged events.
Dr Farnan was asked questions in relation to sex while there is a tampon in situ. He said sexual intercourse with “a foreign body” present in the vagina is “a very common event”.
He gave the example of an “Estring”, a ring used after menopause to release oestrogen, which he said was larger than a tampon.
He said he had treated women who had forgotten they had a tampon inserted and who had sex. “Maybe ladies who have had babies, the tampons would not have been felt as easily,” he said.
Cross-examined by Ray Boland SC, for Ms Hand, Dr Farnan agreed that some bruises can appear within hours and others take longer to appear. “As time passes, more bruises can appear,” he said.
When he had finished giving evidence, Mr Justice Alexander Owens told the jury of four men and eight women that they could go home until next Tuesday. He told them that in their absence, he and lawyers for the plaintiff and the defendant would be “discussing matters which arise from the evidence”.
The judge said that an issue paper would be produced with questions the jurors would have to answer when they eventually retire to consider the evidence. “Your role as the big decision-maker is to evaluate the facts,” he said
Mr Justice Owens said that when the jury returned on Tuesday it would be addressed by counsel for the plaintiffs and the defendants in relation to the facts.
The judge said that after this, he would be charging the jury. He said it was his role to tell them about the law. He also told them not to go on the internet over the weekend to Google the meaning of assault or damages.
During the case, lawyers for Mr McGregor and Mr Lawrence claimed Ms Hand’s version of events is not supported by CCTV footage from the hotel in the aftermath of the alleged rape by Mr McGregor. In the footage, she was seen behaving affectionately towards Mr Lawrence in the hotel lift, patting his backside and attempting to kiss him.
Ms Hand testified she had no memory of this, that she was hitting off the walls of the lift and very drunk. She said she was in a state where she should have been taken home.
Her counsel, John Gordon SC, said she was “full of drugs” at the time and “in a state of elation or delayed shock”.
Ms Hand and her colleague Danielle Kealey had been out the night of December 8, 2018, with other staff from the salon business where they worked. She testified to consuming a beer, Bacardi and cocaine at the Christmas party, which ended up back at a salon in Goatstown in early hours of the next morning.
As that was winding down, Ms Hand resolved to continue partying.
The court heard she knew Mr McGregor as they were both from the Dublin 12 area and moved in the same social circles.
They had been in contact on Instagram that night while she was at her party and he was out at a DJ set in the Tivoli Theatre and later with friends in Krystle nightclub.
Mr McGregor arrived at the salon with a car and driver at around 10am, and picked up the two women. He collected Mr Lawrence from his home and the group arrived at the hotel around midday.
Ms Kealey testified on Wednesday that Ms Hand and Mr McGregor went into the bedroom of the penthouse. She and Mr Lawrence stayed in the sitting room and ended up having sex there. She said that when Ms Hand and Mr McGregor came out of the bedroom, “everything was fine” and she “didn’t know anything bad had happened”.
Mr Lawrence also testified that he heard and saw Ms Hand having consensual sex with Mr McGregor and that he too had consensual sex with her in the hotel after Mr McGregor and Ms Kealey went home that evening.
He denied that he had come forward to gardaí as a “patsy” or “fall guy” for Mr McGregor.
“Never in a million years. No man would put himself up for raping a woman,” he said.
Ms Hand testified that the accounts given by Mr McGregor and Mr Lawrence were “made-up” stories.