Many are wondering if Conor McGregor will be heading to jail after losing a sexual assault court case against Nikita Hand. A High Court jury in Ireland decided that the Irish MMA fighter sexually assaulted the woman, who also goes by the name Nikita Ni Laimhin, in 2018 at the Beacon Hotel in Dublin. Here’s whether McGregor will be convicted and possibly face jail time,
Will Conor McGregor be convicted or charged after losing sexual assault case?
Conor McGregor will not be convicted or charged after losing the sexual assault case, since the lawsuit brought by Nikita Hand was a civil case, not a criminal case. However, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) in Ireland could choose to reopen the case in light of Hand’s victory in this civil lawsuit and pursue a criminal case against McGregor in the future.
That said, legal experts say that DPP is not under any pressure of reconsidering the case after it decided not to pursue criminal prosecution against McGregor in 2020, according to The Journal. In January 2019, Hand made a statement to gardaí, the Irish police force, who followed up with an investigation. But in several letters in 2020, the DPP told her that the evidence available did not rise to the high standard of proof required in criminal cases.
Similar to United States law, the burden of proof for criminal cases compared to civil cases in the UK is starkly different. In a criminal case it’s “beyond reasonable doubt,” whereas in a civil case it’s “on a balance of probabilities.” This is why Hand decided to sue McGregor in a civil lawsuit, for which she was awarded over €240,000 in damages by the jury.
While McGregor refused to answer any questions from the press after the ruling, he did respond in a post on X (formerly Twitter). The MMA fighter says that he will be appealing the decision and was “disappointed that the jury did not hear all the evidence that the DPP reviewed.”
