Amber Heard's sister testified yesterday that she discovered herself in the midst 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 Heard.
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 grew to become enraged and "landed one" on Depp, with Henriquez caught between the 2.
One among Depp's bodyguards intervened and broke up the combat however "by that point Johnny had already grabbed Amber by the hair with one hand and was whacking her repeatedly within the face with the opposite," Henriquez mentioned.
It was the one time, Henriquez mentioned, that she personally witnessed a bodily assault. However she mentioned she noticed the aftermath of different fights, together with bruises on Heard.
She mentioned she had the nickname "marriage counsellor" for her frequent efforts to mediate arguments between Heard and Depp.
"Clearly not very properly," she mentioned of her mediation efforts.
However 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 needed to be with Johnny and if I might assist with that in any means I used to be going to help her. I used to be going to be there for her," she mentioned.
Henriquez admitted that when, 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 on the time.
Henriquez additionally instructed a narrative about Depp's behaviour at Heard's thirtieth party in April 2016, one of many last fights between the couple. She mentioned folks took turns sharing favourite recollections of Heard.
Depp, who arrived late and intoxicated to the occasion, determined to inform a narrative about when he first met Heard as she auditioned for a film and "she sat on the sofa and her good (posterior) left the proper imprint on the sofa."
"We had been all sort of embarrassed," Henriquez mentioned.
Depp is suing Heard for libel in Virginia's Fairfax County Circuit Court docket over a 2018 op-ed she wrote in The Washington Publish describing herself as "a public determine representing home abuse." His legal professionals say he was defamed by the article despite the fact that it by no means talked about his identify.
Additionally yesterday, 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. However she mentioned she noticed the accidents, and she or he took pictures of Heard's face in December 2015 after a combat during which Heard says Depp head-butted her and maybe broke her nostril.
The picture reveals 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 had been ripped from Heard's scalp.
Heard "usually needed to cowl bruises and accidents on her face" with make-up, mentioned Pennington, one among many witnesses whose testimony was beforehand recorded.
Pennington mentioned she does not actually contemplate herself a present pal of Heard, and that the 2 grew aside within the final 12 months.
The December 2015 combat is one among a number of disputed incidents. Whereas jurors have seen the pictures taken by Pennington documenting the accidents, they've additionally seen video of Heard's look on a late-night speak present the following day during which these accidents aren't seen.
Heard has mentioned the accidents had 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 gruelling days of cross-examination during which Depp's legal professionals questioned Heard in regards to the truthfulness of her allegations of bodily and sexual abuse.
Pennington's testimony gives corroborating proof to a number of of the alleged assaults. Along with 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.
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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 last combat between the couple in Might 2016 that precipitated the couple's divorce.
Pennington mentioned she interjected herself between the 2 and Depp knocked her arms 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.