Amber Heard’s sister testified Wednesday that she discovered herself in the course of fights — actually and figuratively — between her sister and Johnny Depp throughout their troubled relationship. Whitney Heard Henriquez is the primary witness to testify on the five-week civil trial to say she personally witnessed Depp hitting Heard. Depp has testified he by no means struck Heart.
Henriquez testified the combat occurred in March 2015 — a month after Depp and Heard’s wedding ceremony — when Heard discovered proof that Depp had already had an extramarital affair.
Henriquez recounted that an inebriated Depp blamed Heard for forcing him into the extramarital encounter. At one level, she mentioned, she was caught between Depp and Heard as he charged up a staircase to confront Heard. Henriquez mentioned she was struck within the again, and Heard turned enraged and “landed one” on Depp, with Henriquez caught between the 2.
One of Depp’s bodyguards intervened and broke up the combat however “by that time Johnny had already grabbed Amber by the hair with one hand and was whacking her repeatedly in the face with the other,” Henriquez mentioned.
It was the one time, Henriquez mentioned, that she personally witnessed a bodily assault. But she mentioned she noticed the aftermath of different fights, together with bruises on Heard.
She mentioned she had the nickname “marriage counselor” for her frequent efforts to mediate arguments between Heard and Depp. “Clearly not very well,” she mentioned of her mediation efforts.
But she acknowledged on cross-examination that she sided with Depp at occasions of their disputes, and mentioned she labored to maintain the couple collectively even after she watched her sister be bodily assaulted.
“If my sister mentioned that she nonetheless wished to be with Johnny and if I might assist with that in any method I used to be going to help her. I used to be going to be there for her,” she mentioned.
Henriquez admitted that after, she even joked in a textual content message that Depp ought to hit Heard, however she mentioned she did not actually perceive what her sister was going by way of on the time.
Henriquez additionally advised a narrative about Depp’s conduct at Heard’s thirtieth party in April 2016, one of many closing fights between the couple. She mentioned individuals took turns sharing favourite reminiscences of Heard. Depp, who arrived late and intoxicated to the social gathering, determined to inform a narrative about when he first met Heard as she auditioned for a film and “she sat on the couch and her perfect (posterior) left the perfect imprint on the couch.”
“We were all kind of embarrassed,” Henriquez mentioned.
Depp is suing Heard for libel in Virginia’s Fairfax County Circuit Court over a 2018 op-ed she wrote in The Washington Post describing herself as “a public figure representing domestic abuse.” His legal professionals say he was defamed by the article although it by no means talked about his title. Also Wednesday, a pal of Heard testified she noticed the bruises and cuts left within the aftermath of a number of incidents of abuse inflicted by Depp.
In a recorded deposition performed for jurors, Raquel Pennington mentioned she by no means personally witnessed Depp strike Heard. But she mentioned she noticed the accidents, and she or he took images of Heard’s face in December 2015 after a combat wherein Heard says Depp head-butted her and maybe broke her nostril.
The picture exhibits a swollen nostril, a lower lip, and two reasonably black eyes on Heard’s face. She additionally took a photograph of strands of hair that she mentioned have been ripped from Heard’s scalp. Heard “often had to cover bruises and injuries on her face” with make-up, mentioned Pennington, one in all many witnesses whose testimony was beforehand recorded. Pennington mentioned she does not actually think about herself a present pal of Heard, and that the 2 grew aside within the final yr.
The December 2015 combat is one in all a number of disputed incidents. While jurors have seen the images taken by Pennington documenting the accidents, they’ve additionally seen video of Heard’s look on a late-night speak present the subsequent day wherein these accidents aren’t seen.
Heard has mentioned the accidents have been simply coated by make-up. Pennington’s testimony got here after Heard wrapped up her time on the witness stand Tuesday, together with two grueling days of cross-examination wherein Depp’s legal professionals questioned Heard in regards to the truthfulness of her of bodily and sexual abuse.
Pennington’s testimony gives corroborating proof to a number of of the alleged assaults. In addition to the December 2015 incident, Pennington mentioned she noticed cuts on Heard’s ft when she returned from a visit to Australia in March 2015. Heard testified that Depp sexually assaulted Heard with a liquor bottle on that journey and that she lower her ft on damaged glass from the assault.
And Pennington, who lived for a time in a collection of penthouses together with Depp and Heard, mentioned she was the primary individual to see Heard throughout a closing combat between the couple in May 2016 that precipitated the couple’s divorce.
Pennington mentioned she interjected herself between the 2 and Depp knocked her palms away. She mentioned she then coated Heard along with her personal physique on the ground as Depp screamed at Heard to stand up. She mentioned she later noticed Depp wielding a wine bottle to smash and knock issues off the partitions and counters.
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With inputs from TheIndianEXPRESS
