Conor McGregor’s fiancée Dee Devlin has broken her silence following his civil sexual assault case, hitting out at rape accuser Nikita Hand saying: ‘my sons will be warned women like you exist in the world’.
McGregor, 36, was ordered to pay more than £200,000 in damages last week to Ms Hand, who sued the UFC star claiming he raped her in a Dublin hotel in 2018.
Jurors at the city’s High Court heard he ‘brutally raped and battered’ Ms Hand, who described from the witness box being pinned down and ‘choked’ by the fighter who she claimed appeared to like it the more she struggled.
Hundreds of people chanted ‘stand with Nikita’ and ‘no more fear, no more shaming – we reject your victim blaming’ at a demonstration in the city marking the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women on Monday.
If you have been the victim of rape, either recently or historically, and are looking for help, support is out there.
Just over 24 hours later, McGregor’s longtime partner Ms Devlin came out in his defence, posting a family snap on Instagram captioned ‘I love him I trust him I BELIEVE HIM’ along with several stories lashing out at Ms Hand.
Ms Devlin said in her post that ‘the smiling faces and happy hearts’ of their four children ‘are a testament to who he is and who we are’.
‘No one is entitled to comment on our relationship – we trust one another and love one another,’ she added.
‘Nothing or nobody will change that. Our family stands strong!’
In her stories, she wrote: ‘What sort of WOMAN are you!!!
‘My sons will be warned women like you exist in the world.’
She later added: ‘Conor and I dealt with these issues privately many years ago, as should be done in a relationship and we have come out stronger than ever.
‘We have four beautiful children now whose smiling faces and happy hearts are a testament to who he is and who we are! They without sin cast the first stone.’
Calls to the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre surged during the McGregor case.
Chief executive Rachel Morrogh said calls went up by 17% in the first 10 days of the trial, with contact by first-time callers increasing by 50% in the same period.
She added that media coverage of the case was having ‘a really profound effect on the people who use the centre’s services’.
‘This case is being directly referenced by many of those callers who are distressed at the contents that they’re reading in the traditional media, but also that they’re accessing information that has been pushed through social media,’ she said.
‘So it’s a really distressing time.’
It came after McGregor apologised to Ms Devlin on X, posting: ‘I know I made mistakes. Six years ago, I should have never responded to her outreaches.
‘I should have shut the party down. I should never have stepped out on the woman I love the most in the world. That’s all on me. As much as I regret it, everything that happened that night was consensual and all the witnesses present swore to that under oath.’
He went on to say he will appeal the decision.
Major retailers across the UK and Ireland have said they will stop selling alcoholic drinks associated with the fighter in the wake of the case.
They include Tesco, Musgrave and the BWG Group, while it is understood that other retail outlets including Costcutter and Carry Out will also stop stocking products linked to him.
McGregor and some of his business partners sold their majority stake in the Proper Number Twelve Irish whiskey brand.
He was reported to have been paid more than £103 million from the sale to Proximo Spirits in 2021.
On Monday, a popular video game developer decided to pull content featuring the MMA fighter.
Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald has said it would be ‘helpful’ for the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) to provide clarity on the decision to not take Ms Hand’s allegation to a criminal trial.
Speaking yesterday, she said she wanted to reiterate Sinn Fein’s solidarity with Ms Hand, adding that: ‘She’s been through a horrible, horrible ordeal.
‘I think she deserves – and I think women more broadly deserve – the absolute reassurance that the DPP has really interrogated this matter correctly and has taken the correct course of action.
‘I am aware that there is a distinction between a criminal charge and a civil case, and the burden of proof is different in both.
‘It’s not for me to do the DPP job for them but I think it is reasonable and I’ve heard it in countless conversations women asking ‘how is it that since the civil case was successful, that a criminal charge was not pursued?’
‘And I think in the interest of public confidence, it would be very helpful to have an answer, a response from the DPP on that matter.’
A spokeswoman for the DPP said it does not comment on individual cases, but that documents on general considerations for decisions to prosecute are available on its website.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.
