(Press Association) Winona Ryder and Vanessa Paradis will no longer be called to testify in Johnny Depp’s defamation claim against The Sun for an article calling him a “handcuff puncher,” the High Court has heard.
Depp’s former associates were due to appear via the video link this week, but the actor’s attorney, David Sherborne, told Depp’s legal team that the court had decided that it was not necessary to know anything about them.
The 57-year-old Hollywood star is suing tabloid news group News Group Newspapers (NGN) publisher and executive editor Dan Wootton for an April 2018 article alleging he was violent towards his ex-wife Amber Heard, 34 years, during their tumultuous relationship.
At the beginning of day eight of Depp’s claim, Sherborne said there was no need to call Ryder and Paradis since the defendant’s case is that the actor was not violent towards other partners but with Heard.
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He told the court, “There is no need to reprogram these witnesses, as much as it would have been a pleasure to have them here.”
Paradis, who was in a relationship with Depp for more than 14 years and had two children with him, was due to present evidence in support of the actor’s case on Thursday.
In a preliminary hearing on the case, part of Paradis’s witness statement said: “I have known Johnny for more than 25 years. We have been partners for 14 years and we raised our two children together. Throughout all these years, I have known Johnny as a kind, caring, generous and non-violent person and father. “
She added: “He was never violent or abusive to me.”
On Wednesday, the court did not have time to listen to actress Ryder, who was engaged to Depp in the 1990s. The court previously heard that Depp had a “Winona Forever” tattoo when the couple was an item, which he later changed to “Wino Forever”.
At a preliminary hearing on the case, part of Ryder’s witness statement was revealed in court documents, which read: “I cannot understand the allegations (of Ms. Heard). He was never, he was never violent towards me. He was never, never abusive towards me at all. “
The Pirates of the Caribbean star is suing NGN and Wootton for publishing an article on April 27, 2018 with the title: “Gone Potty: How can JK Rowling be the casting wife of ‘genuinely happy’ Johnny Depp in the new movie Fantastic Beasts? “
Her lawyers say the article had the meaning that there was “overwhelming evidence.” Depp assaulted Heard on several occasions and left her “fearful for her life.”
Heard claims that, during an incident in Australia, she was subjected to a “three-day hostage situation” during which Depp drank excessively and took pills.
NGN is defending the article as true and says that Depp was “controlling and verbally and physically abusive towards Heard, particularly when he was under the influence of alcohol and / or drugs.”
