Two people arrested for alleged perjury relating to the civil case taken by Nikita Hand against former MMA fighter Conor McGregor have been released without charge. The suspects, a man and woman, were arrested in Dublin on Thursday.
After being questioned by detectives they have since been released. The investigation into the allegations against them is set to continue with a view to determining if they have a criminal case to answer. The inquiry is being led by the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation (NBCI), the Garda’s serious crimes squad.
“The male and female, aged in their 30s, who were arrested in connection with this investigation have been released without charge,” Garda Headquarters said in reply to queries. “A file will be prepared for the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP). Investigations are ongoing.”
Criminal investigations into alleged perjury are very rare in the Republic as the allegation is seldom reported to An Garda Síochána for investigation. The offence, of knowingly and deliberately giving false or misleading evidence under oath, is very hard to prove.
The investigation relating to the Hand-McGregor case commenced because a court directed aspects of the case be sent to the DPP for consideration. That was followed by the DPP directing the Garda to conduct a criminal investigation.
Last year, Mr McGregor was ordered to pay Ms Hand almost €250,000 damages after a High Court jury found he had assaulted her in a Dublin hotel. In July, he lost his appeal against the jury finding in favour of Ms Hand, who sued him for alleged rape at the Beacon hotel on December 9th, 2018.
During his appeal, Mr McGregor attempted to introduce new evidence that his legal team said would call into question key aspects of Ms Hand’s testimony, based on how she sustained serious injuries that night.
It included sworn statements by Samantha O’Reilly and her partner Steven Cummins, who lived across the road from Ms Hand in Drimnagh, Dublin, for a time.
Ms O’Reilly claimed that, from a room in her house, she heard and saw what appeared to be a physical altercation between Ms Hand and her then partner, Stephen Redmond, on the night of December 9th/10th, 2018.
That evidence, Mr McGregor claimed, bolstered his insistence he was not responsible for extensive bruising on the body of Ms Hand, noted by a doctor on December 10th, 2018. In a replying affidavit, Ms Hand described the neighbours’ claims as “lies” and said Mr Redmond never assaulted her during their relationship.
The evidence was unexpectedly withdrawn by Mr McGregor’s legal team on the morning of the appeal.
Ms Hand’s lawyers subsequently applied to have the matter referred to the DPP for consideration of possible perjury, including possible induced perjury by Mr McGregor.
The DPP then directed the Garda to conduct an investigation. Officers from the NBCI have been leading the inquiry because the investigation was directed by the DPP after a court process.