A paramedic who examined a woman who claims she was raped in a Dublin hotel by MMA fighter Conor McGregor has told the jury she had not seen such bruising on a patient in a long time.
Advanced paramedic Eithne Scully was giving evidence in the second week of a civil action by Nikita Hand against Mr McGregor and another man, James Lawrence.
Mr McGregor and Mr Lawrence of Rafter's Road in Drimnagh, deny Ms Hand’s claims.
Ms Scully said Ms Hand was withdrawn, agitated and upset when she first saw her in the bedroom of a house in Drimnagh on 10 December 2018. She said Ms Hand’s chief concern was about a tampon pushed up too far inside her.
She said Ms Hand had a cut on her chin and some bruising around her lower neck. She also had bruising on her chest, legs, buttocks, thighs and lower leg. Ms Scully said Ms Hand was "very bruised". She said in her experience: "I haven’t seen someone so bruised, with that intensity of bruising".
She confirmed that she had asked Ms Hand for permission to remove her pyjama bottoms to examine her bruising in the ambulance, as she had to establish the extent of her injuries.
She also said Ms Hand had told her she had been grabbed around the neck and said something about fighting somebody off and that there was a threat made to her. She said Ms Hand did not name her attacker.
Her colleague, paramedic Neil Dempsey, told the court he was called to a house in Drimnagh on 10 December 2018 and found Nikita Hand in a distressed state in an upstairs bedroom. He said she had visible marks on her neck and breast and was concerned that she had a tampon inside her that had been there for some time.
He said she told paramedics she had been sexually assaulted and they decided to take her to a sexual assault treatment unit. He said Ms Hand’s heart rate was elevated and she had a panic attack in the ambulance on the way to the unit.
The jury was shown footage from inside the ambulance as Ms Hand was being attended to by Mr Dempsey and Ms Scully. The footage shows Ms Scully examining visible bruising on Ms Hand’s thighs and knee.
Later in the footage, Ms Hand can be seen moving off the trolley and sitting up. Mr Dempsey said she became more distressed during the journey to the hospital and was having a panic attack. She also appeared to be vomiting at one point.
Cross-examination
During cross-examination by defence counsel Remy Farrell, Mr Dempsey agreed that in his statement to gardaí four days afterwards, he said: "I asked her what happened, she said she could hardly remember but she was raped."
He also agreed that in his statement he told gardaí that on a few occasions in the hospital she told her mother, "mam please don’t say anything".
GP Emma Quinn said Ms Hand had visited her on 19 December 2018 complaining of neck pain and what she felt was a lump in her neck. She said her complaints were consistent with what she had told her about being restrained around the neck and were consistent with internal bruising.
At the outset of proceedings this morning Mr Justice Alex Owens said he needed to tell the jury that it had come to light that someone had taken a photograph or screenshot of a remote feed of the hearing which had been set up last week for legal practitioners to view the case.
Judge Owens said this had been brought to the attention of the court service by a journalist and was being investigated as a breach of data protection and contempt of court.
GP evidence
Ms Hand's GP Dr Frank Clarke told the court today that he had known her since she was a child and had been treating her for 20 years.
He said she had a history of anxiety and struggled with her confidence and had been prescribed a low dose of medication for it in the past.
He said she was working as a hairdresser, had a child and partner and her mother needed support with her own health issues from time to time.
He said Ms Hand was doing her best but would tend to be anxious and withdrawn, struggling with confidence.
Dr Clarke said he reviewed Ms Hand's treatment from March 2019 in a report completed in November 2020.
He said she and her mother came sometimes to appointments alone and sometimes together. Dr Clarke said they were both trying to support each other and both struggling to cope.
He said Ms Hand had been unfit for work since 15 May 2019.
Asked why, he said she was working in a hairdressers in an environment where it was performance orientated, dealing with people all the time, where she was trying to be cheery and positive, and she was not really coping with that.
He said she was very, very conscious of what had happened, and of social media and people making comments.
Dr Clarke told the court that she was scared of being identified as she felt unsafe if identified, and that she was basically depressed and anxious and unable to do that kind of work.
He said Ms Hand has struggled with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) since the incident in December 2018.
He said she had the classic symptoms where people lose hope, hate themselves and start to drink too much.
Dr Clarke said PTSD is caused by an extremely stressful or terrifying event.
It can cause symptoms including flashbacks, nightmares, severe anxiety, intrusive thoughts, upsetting dreams and nightmares.
It was another reason she has not been able to work since May 2019 he said, because the event happened after a work Christmas party - and people in work knew all about it.
He said people in the street were beginning to know about it because of social media, which was extremely triggering for her.
Dr Clarke said other symptoms of PTSD include, blame, shame, guilt and memory problems.
He added that not remembering aspects of the traumatic event is an important feature of PTSD.
Dr Clarke agreed in cross-examination that he had treated Ms Hand after a road accident in 2016.
He agreed she had suffered from back pain and was anxious about missing work.
He said Ms Hand's symptoms were slow to resolve because of her job which entailed standing all day and bending over someone.
He agreed that her symptoms persisted into 2019 but said this was totally different to PTSD.
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Psychiatrist evidence
Psychiatrist Ann Leader told the court she met Nikita Hand in December 2020 and had a long discussion with her, as well as reading a number of other documents including her statement to gardaí and her medical records.
She said in her meeting with Ms Hand she came across as anxious, tearful and as someone who is traumatised. Having considered her history and having reviewed the material given to her she concluded Ms Hand was suffering from severe PTSD.
She said Ms Hand had described the incident to her and described being depersonalised. She said it was common to become detached during a traumatic event which was so shocking a person could not process it.
She said Ms Hand described feeling detached and that she "just gave up" and allowed what was happening to happen. She said this was a common feature in those with PTSD.
Ms Leader also described how Ms Hand's counselling notes had recorded her saying she felt like a "lump of meat" and that she was flabbergasted to learn that James Lawrence had told gardaí they had consensual sex and had no memory of this at all.
She said an important factor in diagnosing PTSD is that symptoms must meet certain thresholds and be severe enough to affect a level of functioning. She said in her opinion Ms Hand had severe PTSD.
The symptoms included trying to block memories and emotions, panic attacks, nightmares, numbness and detachment and withdrawing from life.
She said Ms Hand had persistent nightmares and flashbacks and classic physical and psychological symptoms. She told Ms Leader she wanted to die, felt dirty and ashamed and guilty. Ms Leader said everything about her presentation was classical of someone who was traumatised and in keeping with PTSD.
Under cross-examination by defence counsel Remy Farrell Ms Leader agreed that she had prepared her report based on what Ms Hand had told her and other documentation but had not reviewed CCTV footage.
She said Ms Hand had told her she had anxiety prior to 2018 and had been referred to counselling but said at that stage she did not have PTSD.
Det Sgt Peter Woods told the court he met Nikita Hand on 30 December at the Beacon Hotel and interviewed her on January 5 2019. She also handed in her mobile phone and the jumpsuit she was wearing on the night of the alleged event.
As a result of his investigations, contact was made with a solicitor for Conor McGregor and an arrangement was made for him to present himself on 17 January 2019.
He arrived at Dundrum Garda station that morning with his solicitor and was arrested.
