Money, mess and Machiavelli: Johnny Depp libel trial week two roundup
In the second week of the Johnny Depp libel trial, the balance of evidence swung in favour of the Pirates of the Caribbean star. Witnesses called by his lawyers, many of them his employees, repeatedly denied he had been violent and described his ex-wife Amber Heard as abusive.
Monday
Depp told the court he lost $650m made at the height of his Pirates of the Caribbean fame and was left owing $100m in taxes. He accused former business managers of stealing vast amounts from him. The court was shown a photo of the actor passed out and covered in ice-cream, which the court was told Heard had shown to her then husband in 2014 to “show how pathetic” he had become. Depp’s former personal assistant Stephen Deuters was not a fan of Heard, the court learned, describing her in one text message as a “sociopathic show pony” and a “Machiavellian overlord”.
Tuesday
Rarely can defecation have featured so prominently in a high-profile court case. Heard blamed a deposit left on the couple’s bed one morning towards the end of their marriage on their allegedly incontinent Yorkshire terrier Boo. Hilda
Vargas, a housekeeper who has been working for Depp for 30 years, was “horrified and disgusted” to find “a large pile of faeces” on the bed. It was a “lack of respect”, she added. To her it was clear that the excrement was human. Depp has said he was convinced Heard “or one of her cohort” was involved in the “defecation incident”.
Wednesday
The vehemence of the testimony from Kate James, Heard’s former personal assistant, discouraged Sasha Wass, QC, counsel for News Group Newspapers (NGN), from pursuing further questions. James accused Heard of stealing her own experience of being a victim of sexual violence and twisting it into a different story. She described herself as “a sexual violence survivor”, adding: “It’s very serious to take that stance if you are not one.” James also recalled receiving a barrage of drunken, abusive and incoherent text messages from Heard between 2am and 4am some days. In her witness statement, James said: “Amber would drink vast quantities of red wine each night.”
Thursday
Anticipation had been building before the scheduled appearances via video link of Depp’s ex-partners Winona Ryder and Vanessa Paradis.
Depp’s counsel, David Sherborne, said the decision to drop their cameo roles in the legal drama owed to the fact that NGN was no longer alleging Depp had hit other women. The pair’s nonappearance did not prevent their evidence from being released. A courtroom intervention by the Press Association persuaded the judge that since parts of their statements had already been referred to, the entire texts should be released. Paradis, who lived with Depp for 14 years and has two children from their relationship, said: “Through all of these years, I’ve known Johnny to be a kind, attentive, generous and nonviolent person.”
Next week
The trial is scheduled to run into a fourth week, and some key witnesses have still to testify. Heard, who has been listening every day in the public gallery of court 13 at the Royal Courts of Justice, is due to step into the witness box on Monday. She will be followed by her sister Whitney and other witnesses called by NGN. The judge Mr Justice Nicol has asked counsel whether the 12 volumes of evidence he has to read might be slimmed down, since some of it relates to witnesses not called. His request suggests judgment is likely to be reserved at the end of the trial.