Man, woman charged with perjury over McGregor appeal

A man and a woman have been charged with perjury following an investigation by gardaí into evidence filed in Conor McGregor's failed appeal against a civil court jury’s finding that he raped Nikita Hand.

Samantha O’Reilly and Steven Cummins were brought before Dublin District Court this morning.

They have been charged with giving statements in a judicial proceeding which were false and which they knew to be false.

Detective Sergeant Maria Cassells told the court Ms O’Reilly, who is 38, was arrested at the couple’s home in Cherry Orchard Green in Dublin this morning. She has been charged with two counts of giving false statements in January and May last year.

Detective Garda Padraic Hanley told the court Mr Cummins, who is 39, was also arrested at home this morning. He has been charged with one count of giving a false statement in January 2025.

Neither made any reply to the charges.

Judge Michele Finan was told the DPP has directed that they both be tried before a jury in the Circuit Criminal Court.

Both were remanded on bail on condition that they sign on weekly at Ballyfermot Garda Station, provide a mobile phone number and do not interfere with witnesses in the case.

They will be back before the district court in Dublin on 9 November for service of the book of evidence.

Both will be applying for legal aid, but the court heard their solicitor, Tony Collier was not available due to the continuing dispute between solicitors and the Department of Justice over changes to the criminal legal aid scheme.

Ms O’Reilly and Mr Cummins were first arrested last September after the Court of Appeal referred documentation in Mr McGregor’s case to the Director of Public Prosecutions.

Mr McGregor had appealed against a High Court jury’s finding in a civil case taken by Ms Hand that he raped her in a Dublin hotel in December 2018.

As part of his appeal last year, he applied to introduce new evidence from Ms O’Reilly and Mr Cummins.

However, he unexpectedly withdrew the application to introduce this evidence just before the hearing was due to start.

Ms O’Reilly and Mr Cummins swore affidavits for the appeal, saying that they lived opposite Ms Hand and her then partner at the time of the assault by Mr McGregor.

Ms O’Reilly said she had seen Ms Hand’s then boyfriend moving his body in a way that suggested he was kicking and hitting her.

Mr Cummins said he was woken from his sleep by Ms O’Reilly and their daughter, and that he heard screams and shouting coming from Ms Hand’s house across the road.

Mr McGregor intended to introduce the evidence to provide an alternative explanation for the bruising on Ms Hand’s body.

Lawyers for Ms Hand had asked the Appeal Court to refer the matter to the DPP after Mr McGregor’s lawyers said they would not be introducing the evidence.

After reviewing the documentation, the Court of Appeal made the referral and a garda investigation led by the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation began.

Mr McGregor’s appeal was subsequently rejected in its entirety with the court finding that no plausible reason had been advanced by him as to why "these extremely important and contentious parts of his appeal had been cast aside".

The Supreme Court ruled that it would not hear any further appeal as it found Mr McGregor had not raised any matter of general public importance and it was not satisfied that a further appeal should be permitted in the interests of justice.