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Two Charged With Perjury Over Evidence in Conor McGregor’s Failed Nikita Hand Appeal
Two former neighbours of Nikita Hand have been charged with perjury over sworn statements Conor McGregor sought to use in his failed civil appeal. Samantha O’Reilly, 38, and Steven Cummins, 39, appeared at Dublin District Court on Tuesday, September 29.
The statements were meant to support a claim that injuries on Hand’s body had another cause. McGregor had asked the Court of Appeal to consider the couple’s accounts after a jury found him liable for assaulting Hand at a Dublin hotel in December 2018. His lawyers withdrew that request just before the appeal hearing began, so the proposed evidence was not heard as part of the appeal.
O’Reilly and Cummins said they lived across the road from Hand and her then-partner in Drimnagh at the time. O’Reilly claimed she saw Hand’s partner move in a way that suggested he was hitting or kicking her. Cummins said O’Reilly and their daughter woke him and that he heard shouting and screams from Hand’s home. Hand denied any altercation with her former partner and called the claims “lies”.
Both are accused of knowingly making false statements material to judicial proceedings in affidavits dated January 14, 2025. O’Reilly faces a second charge relating to May 6, 2025. They concern the couple’s statements, not a new charge against McGregor. McGregor’s decision to drop the proposed evidence drew pointed comments from the appeal judges.
Conor McGregor Appeal Witnesses Face Perjury Charges Over Sworn Statements
In its July 2025 ruling, the court said no plausible explanation had been offered for abandoning such a significant part of his case at the last moment. After Hand’s lawyers raised concerns about possible perjury, the Court of Appeal referred documents to the Director of Public Prosecutions. Gardai first arrested O’Reilly and Cummins in September 2025 as part of the investigation that followed. The pair were arrested again at their Ballyfermot home on Tuesday and made no reply when charged, the court heard.
Mixed martial arts fighter Conor McGregor and partner Dee Devlin leave the High Court in Dublin after the personal injury case against him. Nikita Hand, who is also known as Nikita Ni Laimhin, alleges she was raped by McGregor in a Dublin hotel in December 2018. After deliberating for six hours and 10 minutes, the jury returned with their verdicts in the civil trial against Conor McGregor. The total amount of damages awarded to Nikita Hand by the jury was 248,603.60 euro. Picture date: Friday November 22, 2024. (Photo by Brian Lawless/PA Images via Getty Images)
The Director of Public Prosecutions has directed that they face trial on indictment in the Circuit Criminal Court. A conviction on the perjury charge can carry a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison; that is a legal maximum, not a sentence handed down in this case. They were granted bail on conditions that include signing on weekly at Ballyfermot Garda station, remaining reachable by phone and having no direct or indirect contact with witnesses.
They are due back in District Court on November 9 to be served with the prosecution’s book of evidence before the case is sent forward for trial. Neither had a lawyer representing them at Tuesday’s hearings amid a dispute over changes to Ireland’s criminal legal aid scheme.
Hand brought her civil case after alleging McGregor raped her at the Beacon Hotel on December 9, 2018. He said their encounter was consensual. In November 2024, the jury found that he had assaulted her and awarded her €248,603 in damages. The Court of Appeal rejected his challenge in full in July 2025, and the Supreme Court later declined to hear a further appeal. The perjury case now moves ahead separately from that civil verdict.
Image via: Getty