FALLS CHURCH, Va. -
Actor Amber Heard tearfully instructed jurors Thursday that Johnny Depp sexually assaulted her with a liquor bottle in an alcohol-fuelled rage.
The March 2015 incident in Australia, the place Depp was filming the fifth "Pirates of the Caribbean" film, is sharply disputed and has been a focus of the four-week civil trial in Fairfax, Virginia.
The evening ended with the tip of Depp's center finger lower off, and him writing vulgar messages in blood on the partitions of the home. Depp denies assaulting her in any means and says his finger was severed when Heard threw a vodka bottle at him; Heard stated she'd taken sleeping capsules after she was attacked and was not awake when the finger was severed.
The graphic description of the sexual assault left Heard combating for her composure as she described it to jurors. She stated Depp had been indignant as quickly as she arrived in Australia, roughly a month after the couple had married in February 2015.
He was accusing her of sleeping with co-stars in her films, together with Billy Bob Thornton and Eddie Redmayne, with whom she'd simply shot the movie "The Danish Woman" -- accusations she denied.
The combat escalated to the purpose the place he threw her right into a ping-pong desk, breaking it, Heard testified. He ripped off her nightgown, and Heard stated she was bare and uncovered as she was assaulted.
"I could not rise up. I assumed he was punching me," she stated. "I may simply really feel this strain on my pubic bone."
She thought he was assaulting her along with his fist, however later found out that she was being assaulted with a bottle, and realized that there had been quite a few bottles damaged within the combat.
"I regarded round and noticed a lot damaged glass. I simply bear in mind pondering, `Please God, please do not be damaged,"' she stated.
Heard described weird particulars within the aftermath of the assault, together with seeing her shredded burgundy nightgown used to wrap a uncooked steak that had been unnoticed. She stated that when Depp's safety crew lastly arrived to are inclined to his severed finger, Depp was nonetheless making an attempt to depart vulgar messages for her, however was making an attempt to write down them by urinating on the wall.
A lot of the trial testimony has been repetitive of a civil swimsuit Depp filed towards a British newspaper. A decide there dominated towards Depp in 2020, discovering that Heard had in actual fact been assaulted a number of instances by Depp. However the sexual assault allegations described by Heard on Thursday weren't publicly aired within the U.Okay trial.
Depp is suing Heard in Virginia for libel over an op-ed she wrote in The Washington Put up describing herself as "a public determine representing home abuse." His attorneys say he was defamed by the 2018 article though it by no means talked about his identify.
Earlier in her testimony Thursday, Heard testified that Depp surrounded himself with an entourage of enablers to protect him from the results of his drug and alcohol use.
She described an incident that has already come up at trial, a Might 2014 airplane trip from Boston to Los Angeles. In line with Heard, Depp was jealous and irate that she was making a film with actor James Franco that included a kissing scene.
"He hated, hated James Franco," she stated.
As quickly as Depp stepped into the personal airplane, he started berating her, she stated. She bought up and walked away, however Depp adopted her. At one level, he slapped her, Heard testified. Later, she stated, he kicked her, and never one individual on board intervened on her behalf.
"I felt this boot in my again," she stated. "I fell to the ground. And nobody stated something. Nobody did something. You possibly can have heard a pin drop. I simply bear in mind feeling so embarrassed."
Depp, who testified earlier within the trial, described the incident in a different way. He denied that he'd drank excessively earlier than getting on the airplane, and stated Heard initiated an argument and pursued him till he felt compelled to cover in a rest room.
However jurors heard a recording Heard made towards the top of the incident, wherein it feels like Depp is howling and babbling incoherently. And the jury has seen a textual content message Depp despatched his pal Paul Bettany shortly after the flight, wherein he says he'll "correctly cease the booze factor" as a result of the flight bought "ugly." He additionally texted Bettany saying, "I am admittedly too f----- within the head to spray my rage on the one I really like for little motive as effectively."
Heard has testified that she was bodily and sexually assaulted on a number of events by Depp, usually when he was drunk or excessive on medication. Depp has denied ever hitting her, however Heard's attorneys have stated his denials lack credibility partly as a result of he cannot bear in mind what he is performed when he blacks out.
Depp has stated Heard enormously exaggerates his ingesting, and that he tolerates his liquor effectively. Associates, household and workers of Depp have taken the stand and backed up his rivalry.
However Heard stated that is a part of the issue: She stated Depp has a crew round him that cleans him up when he will get sick, and permits him to go about his enterprise with out acknowledging the results of his ingesting.
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