Amber Heard punched Johnny Depp on night of her 30th birthday party, court told
By ITV News Correspondent Juliet Bremner
Johnny Depp's head of security has told the actor's libel hearing that Amber Heard never told him she had been hit by the actor.
On the contrary, Sean Bett told the court that Johnny Depp was often attacked by his ex-wife.
On Thursday, the court was shown a photograph of a bruise on the 57-year-old's face which is alleged to have been caused by Ms Heard punching him on the night of her 30th birthday party.
Depp, 57, is suing the tabloid publisher News Group Newspapers (NGN), and its executive editor Dan Wootton, over an article published in 2018, which referred to “overwhelming evidence” that he attacked Ms Heard, 34 during their marriage - which he denies.
Mr Bett, who has worked for Johnny Depp as a security guard for 14 years, told the court that he witnessed many arguments between the couple and often Ms Heard was the person who caused the rows.
He said that she "would get upset for no reason almost like she was having a tantrum".
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In his witness statement Mr Bett said: "Ms Heard was verbally and physically abusive towards Mr Depp. On many occasions, I witnessed her shout at Mr Depp."
He alleged that on many occasions he and other staff where asked to take Mr Depp away from Ms Heard because of her behaviour.
The court was shown a photograph of an injury it is alleged Johnny Depp sustained after Ms Heard punched him during her birthday party on the night of April 21, 2016.
The photograph showed Mr Depp with a bruise on the cheek just below his left eye.
Sasha Wass QC, for The Sun newspaper, told the court that the picture had not been taken on this night and there was no evidence to show Johnny Depp had received any injuries that night.
Mr Bett admitted the photograph shown to the court was not the one he claimed to have taken on the night of the birthday party.
He claimed he could no longer find the photograph of the injury he had taken and believed it must have been on one of his old phones.
During another altercation between the couple in May 2016 Mr Bett and another security guard were on duty when they heard shouting and entered a penthouse where the couple were.
He agreed that Ms Heard had shouted: "If he hits me one more time I am going to call the cops."
He claimed Ms Heard was "yelling at the top of her lungs" but said he did not see any sign of redness or injury on her face.
Mr Depp left in a "extremely agitated" state and pictures captured on CCTV showed him hopping from one foot to the other.
The Sun's barrister claimed that Mr Depp had confronted two of Ms Heard's friends who were in the building and demanded they leave.
It was further alleged that he smashed a bottle of red wine on the doorstep of the penthouse but this was denied by Mr Bett.
Mr Bett said that he had never seen Mr Depp so drunk that he was "aggressive, objectionable, incapable" and he never witnessed him slamming doors or breaking or kicking furniture.
He did accept that he occasionally saw Mr Depp drinking one or two glasses of red wine in the morning, particularly if he had been filming through the night.
Winona Ryder and Vanessa Paradis - two of the actor's former partners - had been due to appear via video link this week to give evidence, instead witness statements from the pair were read out in court.
Mr Depp's former wife Ms Paradis told the court in a written statement that she had never known him to be violent or abusive over 25 years.
“Through all these years I have known Johnny be a kind, attentive, generous and non violent husband and father," she said.
The model and actor added she knew about the allegations made by Ms Heard which she described as “outrageous” and said it “is nothing like the true Johnny I have known and from my personal experience of many years, I can say he was never violent or abusive to me".
Ms Paradis - who is the mother of two children with Mr Depp - said it was really distressing and caused damage to his career because people have continued to believe these “false facts".
Another former partner of Mr Depp, Winona Ryder, also spoken up in support of Mr Depp.
She said in her statement that the relationship was “one of the more significant relationships of my life” and she counted him “as close to me as family".
The actor said that she had been in a relationship with Mr Depp for four years and said she was “shocked, confused and upset” when she heard the accusations against him and “the idea that he is an incredibly violent person is the farthest thing from the Johnny I knew and loved".
“I cannot wrap my head around these accusations.
"He was never, never violent towards me.
"He was never, never abusive at all towards me,” she wrote in her statement.
“I do not want to call anyone a liar but from my experience of Johnny, it is impossible to believe that such horrific allegations are true.”