Amber Heard was 'violent' towards sister Whitney, Johnny Depp's lawyer shows clip to discredit 'lying' sibling
Johnny Depp's legal team furnished evidence today to support a bombshell new claim that "Amber Heard had been violent towards her own sister." Heard's younger sister Whitney Henriquez had previously told the High Court how she had seen Heard punch her ex-husband in the face but insisted she was only acting in defense against him.
Henriquez went on to declare she was not "frightened” of Heard and was never on the receiving end of any violence from her.
Today, however, Depp's lawyer David Sherborne revealed his team had obtained video overnight that indicated otherwise and accused Henriquez of lying.
“After she gave evidence yesterday, one of my team was contacted by an individual on the basis of being kept confidential”, he said. “We were contacted to explain Amber Heard has a history of violence and attacking people."
"The video which was attached is of sister Whitney Heard, taken shortly after Amber Heard had attacked her," Sherborne continued. “Whitney Heard is filmed with people commenting on bruises on her face and body.”
According to the Evening Standard, Henriquez was ordered to stand outside the court so she couldn't hear the exchange as the video was played. Meanwhile, her sister was urged to “refrain from using her mobile phone” as she sat in the public gallery.
Depp's legal team sought to question Henriquez once more as they launched a bid to deploy new video evidence. “The material, we say, demonstrates Whitney Heard lied yesterday”, he said. “It goes to the issue of whether or not Ms. Heard was violent.”
The video shows Henriquez talking to a group of women around a swimming pool, admitting to an altercation with her sister.
"I have already talked about it, I won’t talk about it anymore," she says, before one woman tells her, "I can’t believe Amber beat your a**. I know you can beat her a**."
The women then appear to inspect Henriquez's arms and neck as if they are examining an injury.
Henriquez was at the center of a March 2015 incident at Depp and Heard's Los Angeles penthouse. Both she and Heard claimed Depp tried to attack them while inebriated, threw objects across the room and chased them up the stairs.
“When he got to the top of the stairs, he was pulling me backwards so he could get to Amber”, she said. “I remember being scared because I was worried that I would fall backwards and fall down the stairs. Johnny reached out to shove me out of the way to lunge at Amber – reaching out to try hit Amber – and instead struck me, hitting me in the arm."
“Amber suddenly lurched forward and hit him and said ‘don’t hit my sister,'" Henriquez added.
Earlier this week, Heard told the court that she punched Depp only to defend her sister and recalled a rumor that he had once pushed supermodel Kate Moss down a flight of stairs when they were dating.
On the other hand, Depp insisted that his ex-wife was orchestrating a hoax against him. The Donnie Brasco star denied all accusations of violence and, instead, alleged that Heard was the violent one in the relationship.
Eleanor Laws QC, for Depp, paused while cross-examining Henriquez yesterday. “Is there a reason why you keep looking up to the public gallery, to your sister, during the evidence?” she asked.
"No," Henriquez responded, denying she was "frightened” or “wary” of her sister.
“Not at all - I’m not afraid of my sister," she said.
57-year-old Depp is also brought on a libel lawsuit against the publishers of The Sun, News Group Newspapers, over a 2018 article which saw executive editor Dan Wootton describe him as a "wife-beater."
That said, Justice Nicol is due to decide whether Henriquez can be quizzed after watching the fresh video evidence.
The trial continues.