(Press Association) Johnny Depp’s lawyers received a video from “an anonymous source” which they say shows Amber Heard “attacking” her sister, the High Court has heard.
On Friday morning, the Pirates of the Caribbean Star’s attorney, David Sherborne, said they had received a video from a “confidential source” Thursday night, after Whitney Henríquez gave evidence earlier that day that her sister had never attacked her.
The claim was made at the beginning of the 14th day of Mr. Depp’s defamation claim against The Sun on charges that he was violent towards his ex-wife. On Thursday, Henríquez denied that Heard had ever hit her, or that she was “scared” of her sister.
He also gave evidence that he saw Depp hit Heard “really hard on the head … multiple times” in Los Angeles in March 2015 in the so-called “staircase incident.”
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Henríquez admitted that Heard hit Depp on that occasion, but only did so “in my defense” because his sister believed the actor would push her down the stairs. Sherborne told the court that Henríquez had “adapted” his evidence “to comply with his sister’s evidence.”
The lawyer added that Depp’s legal team had received “material that we say shows that Mrs. Whitney (Henríquez) lied yesterday.”
Depp, 57, is suing The Sun editor News Group Newspapers (NGN) and executive editor Dan Wootton over an April 2018 article calling him a “handcuff puncher” over claims he attacked Heard, 34, during their relationship.
At the London Courts of Justice, Sherborne said: “After she (Ms Henríquez) gave evidence yesterday, one of our team was contacted by an individual, on the grounds of being confidential.”
He added: “We were contacted to explain that Ms Amber Heard had a history of violence and attacks on people and this attached video of her sister Whitney (Henríquez) was taken shortly after Amber Heard had attacked her and Mrs. Whitney (Henríquez). was filmed with people commenting on the bruises on her face and body. “
Sherborne told Judge Nicol: “In the context of the attack, what I will call ‘the staircase incident’, and the evidence we say of the attack by Mrs. Amber Heard on Mr. Depp, Mrs. Whitney (Henríquez ) You will remember that he protested that it was only in self-defense and it is the only physical attack that Ms. Amber Heard admits. “
He said that on Thursday, Henriquez was asked “if Ms. Amber Heard was violent” and said that “the stair incident” in Los Angeles in March 2015 was “unique”.
Sherborne continued that Henríquez’s evidence of the incident in March 2015 is “the only time any other human being is supposed to have witnessed it.” Depp is violent towards Heard. He added: “The reliability of Ms. Whitney (Henríquez) is critical.”
Sherborne said Heard’s evidence is that “she was never violent, she (did not) physically attack Mr. Depp … and the only time is said to have been when she was acting in self-defense.” “The evidence that Ms. Heard was violent towards her sister is relevant to that issue,” said Sherborne.
She told the court: “We have the right to make (complaints) of violence against Mrs. Whitney (Henríquez) … we want to reproduce the video tape and ask her about the incident in which Mrs. Amber Heard attacked her.”
Sherborne added: “If we had received this before the end of yesterday, we would have had the right to present him (the indictment) and we would have the right to rely on it in our final submissions.”
Henríquez’s cross-examination concluded on Thursday afternoon and was to be questioned by NGN attorney Sasha Wass QC on Friday. Wass said he had not seen the video and did not know it until Sherborne told the court.
Judge Nicol said he wanted to “move on” with the evidence from other witnesses “and if there is an opportunity for Ms. Wass to view the video before we get to the subject, it would be desirable.”
Henriquez was due to finish his evidence Friday morning before Heard’s interim coach, Kristina Sexton, appears via video link from Australia and Heard’s friends, iO Tillett Wright and Raquel “Rocky” Pennington, give evidence from the United States. United.
Sexton began his video link evidence from Australia on Friday morning and “enthusiastically” denied supporting Heard’s accusations against Depp.
Depp is suing over the publication of an article on April 27, 2018 with the headline: “Gone Potty: How can JK Rowling be the ‘genuinely happy’ casting wife, Johnny Depp, in the new Fantastic Beasts movie?
Her lawyers say the article had the meaning that there was “overwhelming evidence.” Depp assaulted Ms. Heard on several occasions and left her “fearful for her life.”
NGN is defending the article as true and says that Depp was “verbally and physically controlling and abusive towards Ms. Heard, particularly when she was under the influence of alcohol and / or drugs.”
The case, the biggest defamation trial in English of the 21st century, will end next week with the closing of the submissions from both sides’ legal teams on Monday and Tuesday.
