DUBLIN (AP) — A woman accusing Conor McGregor of sexually assaulting her in a Dublin hotel in 2018 testified in an Irish court on Tuesday at the start of a civil case seeking financial damages against the mixed martial arts star.
McGregor was at the High Court in Dublin for the beginning of a case that is expected to last around two weeks.
The alleged incident took place on Dec. 9, 2018 and the civil action was filed in 2021. McGregor and another man, James Lawrence, are the defendants.
A spokesperson for McGregor has previously denied the allegations, saying the Irish police had investigated and declined to bring criminal charges.
In her testimony, the woman said she told McGregor she didn’t feel comfortable after being left alone with him in a bedroom in the penthouse suite of a Dublin hotel, Britain’s PA news agency reported.
“I tried to talk him around, that I didn’t want to have sex and wasn’t there for anything like that,” the woman said about McGregor in the courtroom. “He just wasn’t taking no for an answer.”
John Gordon, the lawyer for the woman, said she and McGregor were known to each other as they were in the same age group, from the same area, had mutual friends and had been in contact at various times through social media.
Daniel Keane, who works as a gynecologist as well as a forensic examiner in sexual assault cases, also testified on the first day of the case. Keane said the woman was “shaking and crying” after being brought in by ambulance the day after the alleged assault to the hospital where he was working. He detailed bruising across the woman’s body and said the extent of it was “quite unusual.”
PA reported that lawyers for McGregor will argue that the act between him and the woman was consensual. It wasn't immediately clear when they will present their arguments.
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Conor McGregor outside High Court in Dublin, Ireland Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024. (Niall Carson/PA via AP)
Conor McGregor leaves High Court in Dublin, Ireland Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024. (Niall Carson/PA via AP)
Conor McGregor outside High Court in Dublin, Ireland Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024. (Niall Carson/PA via AP)
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Republican Mike Braun won the Indiana governor’s race Tuesday, defeating Democrat Jennifer McCormick, a former Republican who split with the party after serving as the state’s schools superintendent.
The victory by Braun, a U.S. senator who’s the wealthy founder of a national auto parts distribution business, extends the GOP’s 20-year-hold on the state’s top office in deep red Indiana.
Braun, 70, will succeed outgoing Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb, who could not seek a third term because of term limits. Braun opted not to seek reelection to a second term in the Senate so he could run for governor. He won the GOP’s six-way May primary election to succeed Holcomb with about 40% of the vote.
Braun quickly became the frontrunner in the race, bolstered by several advantages: name recognition, money and former President Donald Trump’s endorsement.
Braun’s running mate, ultra-conservative Christian pastor Micah Beckwith, wasn’t his choice for the lieutenant governor’s post. Braun had endorsed state Rep. Julie McGuire for his running mate when he became the GOP nominee for governor.
While Indiana delegates usually back the nominee’s chosen running mate without a challenge, Beckwith was chosen by party delegates at the state Republican Party convention in June after he had lobbied delegates for a year to win the nomination.
Beckwith, who promotes uncompromising positions on abortion, gender and sexuality, cohosts a “Jesus, Sex and Politics” podcast, has courted controversy with some of his comments.
Republicans have controlled Indiana’s governor’s office since Mitch Daniels defeated the late Democrat Joe Kernan in 2004. And Democrats haven’t won a statewide office in Indiana since 2012, when Glenda Ritz won election as the state’s schools superintendent and Democrat Joe Donnelly won a U.S. Senate seat.
McCormick, then a Republican, defeated Ritz for the schools chief post in 2016 after pledging better relationships with Republican Statehouse leaders following numerous policy clashes between Ritz, then-Gov. Mike Pence and top GOP lawmakers.
But McCormick split from the GOP over education policy and changed her party affiliation to Democrat after her term ended in early 2021.
McCormick’s running mate was Terry Goodin, a Democrat who served in the Indiana House from 2000 to 2020. Those 20 years were marked by conservative votes against key Democratic issues, including abortion and same-sex marriage, but Goodin has apologized for those votes and promised that he’s changed his mind.
Braun and McCormick were joined in the governor’s race by Libertarian Donald Rainwater.
Hoosier voters were also deciding Tuesday the state’s attorney general’s race, choosing between Republican incumbent Todd Rokita and Democrat Destiny Wells. Rokita, a conservative former congressman, is seeking a second term. Wells, a lawyer and Army Reserve lieutenant colonel, ran unsuccessfully for Indiana secretary of state in 2022.
Democrat candidate Jennifer McCormick speaks during a debate for Indiana governor hosted by the Indiana Debate Commission at WFYI, Thursday, Oct. 24, 2024, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings, Pool)
Republican candidate Sen. Mike Braun, R-Ind., speaks during a debate for Indiana governor hosted by the Indiana Debate Commission at WFYI, Thursday, Oct. 24, 2024, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings, Pool)
