A gang of masked men broke into the home of a woman who filed a civil case against mixed martial arts fighter Conor McGregor, accusing him of raping her, it can now be revealed.

The incident was mentioned at the start of the trial in Dublin but could not be reported until now because it emerged during legal arguments while the jury was not present.

On Friday, a jury in the High Court of Ireland found that McGregor had attacked Nikita Hand, who had accused him of raping her, in December 2018 and awarded her damages of almost €250,000.

The court heard that unknown masked men broke into her home on June 14, smashed the windows and stabbed her boyfriend.

Hand’s counsel, John Gordon, told Judge Owens he was not suggesting the fighter was behind the attack, but that this went some way to explaining her fear and why she moved from her home.

“The complainant’s house was invaded by a group of men wearing balaclavas,” he said.

“They broke into the complainant’s bedroom and were driven away by the complainant’s partner, who suffered a stab wound. Her daughter was sleeping in the next room.”

Gordon also told the court that the men smashed the windows in the front room before leaving.

“We’re not laying that at the feet of the defendants or saying they had anything to do with that,” he added.

“We do maintain that it was not an untargeted attack, but came from supporters of the first named defendant (McGregor).

“It relates to the claim that she had to move from the Drimnagh area.”

The judge asked if it was alleged that McGregor had anything to do with it, to which Gordon replied: “No judge, it is special damages.

“It was related to her state of fear and her claim that she had to move from the Drimnagh area, as she has now done.”

McGregor’s lawyer, Remy Farrell, said it appeared Hand was making a claim “that has nothing to do with us”, and complained it would be “an invitation to the jury to speculate”.

The judge ruled that he found it “completely irrelevant and should not be referred to”.

A Garda spokesperson confirmed it had received a report of an incident of serious burglary and investigations were ongoing. They added that a man had been treated in hospital for “non-life-threatening injuries”.

On Friday, McGregor, who denied Hand’s claims as lies and fabrications designed to cover up her boyfriend’s cheating, said he was appealing the high court’s ruling, noting the damages were “modest.”

He said: “The judge’s instruction and the modest award given was for assault, not for serious or exemplary damage. I am disappointed that the jury did not hear all the evidence that the DPP (Ireland’s Director of Public Prosecutions) reviewed. I am with my family now, focused on my future. Thank you for all my support worldwide,” he said on X.

The DPP had decided not to pursue the case in 2020 as there was no reasonable prospect of a conviction.

McGregor was accused of ‘brutally raping and assaulting’ Hand at a hotel in south Dublin in December 2018.

The Irish sports star previously told the court he had consensual sex with Hand in a penthouse at the Beacon hotel.

The Dublin Rape Crisis Center said the case was an important moment in establishing what ‘consent’ meant, after the judge made it clear in his closing remarks to the jury that ‘submission’ was not consent, nor risky behaviour. Drinking or using drugs “doesn’t mean they want to have sex,” Owens said.