After the explosive ending in court yesterday, more of Johnny Depp’s personnel denied ever seeing him hit Heard. One security guard said Heard hit Depp.
Eight days into the libel trial against The Sun, the court heard that Amber Heard punched Johnny Depp after the couple got into an argument at her birthday party. On Thursday, two of Depp’s security personnel served as witnesses and maintained that they never saw Depp act violently towards Heard.
Depp’s former partners Winona Ryder and Vanessa Paradis were slated to give evidence, however, the court announced that they will no longer need to hear from them. In the statements Ryder and Paradis provided, they said that Depp was never abusive or violent with them.
Paradis called Depp a “kind, attentive, generous, and non-violent person and father” and Ryder said, “he was never, never violent towards me. He was never, never abusive at all towards me.”
Heard hit Depp
The first witness called on was Sean Bett, who worked as Depp’s security personnel for 14 years, a job he still has, and is a former officer LA County Sheriff’s Department. He regularly drove for Depp and Heard.
Bett told the court that after the former spouses fought, Depp would “feel bad” and ask Bett to drive Heard wherever she needed to go. On these rides, Heard would cry and say how much she loved Depp.
Bett drove Depp to Heard’s 30th birthday party, an event which came up several times already during the hearing. In Bett’s statement, he said that Depp called him after the party to drive him home and that Depp said Heard punched him after the couple argued. Bett took a photo to document the injury.
According to Bett, this was not the only time Heard hit Depp. Bett provided another photo of Depp taken in December 2015, depicting an injury on the top of his nose and redness around his face. Depp told Bett that Heard slapped him round the face.
The court questioned Bett about what happened on 21 May 2016, the day after Depp’s mother passed away. Bett said that Depp was “sober” and “lucid,” but that he was “concerned” about how Heard might behave.
Bett and Depp’s late head of security Jerry Judge entered the house that evening after they heard Ms. Heard shouting.
“As soon as Ms Heard noticed that we had entered the room, she looked very surprised; her demeanor then changed, and she pointed at Mr Depp and screamed to us words to the effect of: ‘If he hits me one more time, I am calling the police’,” said Bett.
Heard vomited at Coachella
The second witness called on was Starling Jenkins, who worked as a security guard at The Eastern Columbia Building in Los Angeles where Depp and Amber Heard lived. Jenkins has worked for Depp since 1993.
Jenkins worked a security shift on the night of Heard’s 30th birthday party but left before Depp arrived. He drove Heard and her friends to the Coachella Festival the day after and claimed that he saw Heard vomiting in a car park when they arrived.
The Sun’s defense lawyer maintained that it was Heard’s sister, Whitney, who vomited but Jenkins pushed back. He could identify that it was Amber Heard by her clothing. Afterwards, Heard requested ginger ale, crackers, and pedialyte — a rehydration drink.
Jenkins, like Bett, said he never saw Depp use physical force on Heard nor any marks of injury on Heard that would suggest abuse. According to Jenkins, when the former spouses would argue, Depp “assumes a passive tone and wants to leave her presence.”