Like a lot of things that happened this year, Johnny Depp’s defamation lawsuit against The Sun seems like it was an awful long time ago, but Judge Justice Nicol finally lay down his judgment against the Hollywood actor and the British newspaper, ruling in favour of The Sun.
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In case you forgot, the case hinged on whether or not The Sun had enough evidence to categorically describe Depp as a wife beater and Judge Nicole determined that they did indeed after looking at the 14 incidents that Heard accused Depp of domestic violence in. Here’s exactly what he said in his judgment, which was just released onto the internet – although the website has crashed so it’s pretty hard to get on to it. The guy I’m tweet quoting though was one of the main guys covering the trial so I’m pretty sure that he’s going to be sharing the most accurate information:
Par 588 “The Claimant has not succeeded in his action for libel. Although he has proved the necessary elements of his cause of action in libel, the Defendants have shown that what they published in the meaning which I have held the words to bear was substantially true.”
— Nick Wallis (@nickwallis) November 2, 2020
“… In those circumstances, Parliament has said that a defendant has a complete defence. It has not been necessary to consider the fairness of the article or the defendants’ ‘malice’ because those are immaterial to the statutory defence of truth…
— Nick Wallis (@nickwallis) November 2, 2020
Par 577 “A recurring theme in Mr Depp’s evidence was that Ms Heard had constructed a hoax and that she had done this as an ‘insurance policy’ – presumably in the event that the marriage broke down….”
— Nick Wallis (@nickwallis) November 2, 2020
“…. She was, according to this scenario, nothing more than a gold-digger. I have in the course of this judgment given reasons why I do not accept this characterisation of Ms Heard. Looking at the evidence as a whole, I come to the same conclusion….”
— Nick Wallis (@nickwallis) November 2, 2020
Incident 1: the tattoo incident
“Seen in isolation, the evidence that Mr Depp assaulted Ms Heard on this occasion might not be sufficient. However, taken with the evidence as a whole, I find that it did occur.”
— Nick Wallis (@nickwallis) November 2, 2020
Incident 3: Hicksville June 2013
“In the course of the argument, Mr Depp caused significant damage to the trailer. Ms Sexton could see that the damage was more than a broken light fixture which Mr Depp admitted damaging. I accept her evidence….
— Nick Wallis (@nickwallis) November 2, 2020
“… I also accept the evidence of Ms Heard that another aspect of ‘the monster’ was that Mr Depp physically assaulted her as she described….”
— Nick Wallis (@nickwallis) November 2, 2020
Incident 4: the plane journey from Boston to Los Angeles
“As had happened previously when Mr Depp became drunk and high on illegal drugs, he insulted Ms Heard and screamed obscenities at her. In his closing submissions, Mr Sherborne submitted that…
— Nick Wallis (@nickwallis) November 2, 2020
“… However, I prefer the evidence of Mr Depp’s text to Mr Bettany in which after recounting what he had consumed he asked rhetorically, ‘What do you get?’ Mr Depp’s answer to that question was,
‘a fuckin’ blackout, screaming obscenities and any fuck who gets near.’…”— Nick Wallis (@nickwallis) November 2, 2020
“…. This was more than a ‘playful tap’, contrary to what he and Mr Deuters said in their evidence. Mr Sherborne submitted that Mr Deuters (and Mr Judge) would not have allowed that to happen. I do not accept that submission. Their first loyalty was to Mr Depp.”
— Nick Wallis (@nickwallis) November 2, 2020
“… That Ms Roberts never saw Mr Depp assault Ms Heard takes the matter no further. The staff (including Ms Roberts) lived in a different part of the island…”
— Nick Wallis (@nickwallis) November 2, 2020
“…. Ms Heard acknowledged that she had made a mistake about the location of the door which was splintered. That is a peripheral matter and I do not find it causes me to doubt her account of being assaulted by Mr Depp.”
— Nick Wallis (@nickwallis) November 2, 2020
Incident 7: Tokyo: January 2015
“I have found that on other occasions, not long before Incident 7, Mr Depp was adversely affected by drink and/or drugs, whether prescription or controlled drugs….”
— Nick Wallis (@nickwallis) November 2, 2020
“… Nor do I find that the presence of his children would have prevented Mr Depp from gaining access to controlled drugs. After all, a short time later in February or March Nathan Holmes was helping Mr Depp to acquire controlled drugs in Australia…”
— Nick Wallis (@nickwallis) November 2, 2020
Incident 8: Australia March 2015
“It is plain that at some point in the argument, part of one of the Claimant’s fingers was sliced off. The Claimant said this had occurred when Ms Heard threw a vodka bottle at him…”
— Nick Wallis (@nickwallis) November 2, 2020
“… The damage to the Claimant’s hand was serious and painful. The Claimant denied that he had delayed seeking medical help. He did agree, however, that he had written graffiti on the wall with his injured finger….”
— Nick Wallis (@nickwallis) November 2, 2020
“… Part of this read, ‘starring Billy Bob Thornton Easy Amber’. Mr Depp agreed that he wrote that. He also wrote on a lampshade ‘Good luck and be careful at the top’….”
— Nick Wallis (@nickwallis) November 2, 2020
“… Malcom Connolly said that when he arrived Mr Depp was outside the house and Mr Depp said to him words to the effect of,
‘Look at my finger. She’s cut my fucking finger off. She’s smashed my hand with a vodka bottle.’
Mr Connolly also said that Mr Depp told him that…— Nick Wallis (@nickwallis) November 2, 2020
“… Mr Connolly agreed that Ms Heard was saying that Mr Depp had burnt himself with the cigarette, although she did not say that in his presence.
Mr Connolly was shown a photograph of Mr Depp lying in hospital….”— Nick Wallis (@nickwallis) November 2, 2020
“… The bone was pinned, and a plaster cast was put over it. I was shown a photograph (taken on 18th March 2015) of the cast which had pictures of little dinosaurs on it….”
— Nick Wallis (@nickwallis) November 2, 2020
“… I do not accept that Ms Heard was responsible for the injury to Mr Depp’s finger. The first account appears to have been in Mr Depp’s text to Dr Kipper. It is notable in that text that he says he cut his finger, not that she cut it….”
— Nick Wallis (@nickwallis) November 2, 2020
“… in either of his two texts to sister Christi on 8th March 2015… What exactly caused the injury is uncertain. Mr King spoke of there being a great deal of broken glass around and it may well be that Mr Depp accidentally cut his finger on a piece of broken glass…”
— Nick Wallis (@nickwallis) November 2, 2020
“…. Ms Heard had a mobile phone. She agreed in cross examination that she could have contacted anyone. In the accidentally recorded conversation she spoke of phoning her sister. Ms Heard could have left the house….”
— Nick Wallis (@nickwallis) November 2, 2020
“… It is a sign of the depth of his rage that he admitted scrawling graffiti in blood from his injured finger and then, when that was insufficient, dipping his badly injured finger in paint and continuing to write messages and other things….”
— Nick Wallis (@nickwallis) November 2, 2020
Incident 9: the stairs incident 23rd March 2015
“It is no part of my function to decide whether Mr Depp was having an affair with Rochelle (any more than it is my function to decide whether Ms Heard had affairs with James Franco, Billy Bob Thornton, Elon Musk or anyone else)…”
— Nick Wallis (@nickwallis) November 2, 2020
“… I regard the most reliable account of what took place as the texts sent by Ms Lloyd. They were written very shortly after the events she is describing and they are therefore a near-contemporaneous account…”
— Nick Wallis (@nickwallis) November 2, 2020
“…. It is also plain from what Ms Lloyd said in her texts that there was violence on both sides. Ms Heard has accepted that she punched Mr Depp, but it is clear from Ms Lloyd’s texts that she was not the sole aggressor. As Ms Lloyd said, ‘We had to restrain both of them.’…”
— Nick Wallis (@nickwallis) November 2, 2020
“… All agree that Mr Depp still had a cast on his injured right hand, but in Ms Lloyd’s account (which I find to be true) that did not stop him being one of those who was violent or having to be physically restrained….”
— Nick Wallis (@nickwallis) November 2, 2020
“…. (whether ‘purse’ for these purposes is as it would be understood in England or in the USA). I do not find that she threw a can of Red Bull at Mr Depp. As she admitted, she did punch him, but I accept that was in defence of her sister….”
— Nick Wallis (@nickwallis) November 2, 2020
Incident 10: south east Asia train incident
“I do not accept that it is proven.”
— Nick Wallis (@nickwallis) November 2, 2020
“…. There was an argument on 15th December between Mr Depp and Ms Heard. I find that it is more probable than not that on this occasion, as on others, Mr Depp was under the influence of alcohol and/or controlled drugs….”
— Nick Wallis (@nickwallis) November 2, 2020
Wow. I really didn’t think that The Sun were going to win this one because most of the coverage of the trial seemed to paint both Heard and Depp as absolute crazy awful people that were both as bad as each other. I guess the big trial is Depp vs Heard which is scheduled to happen over in the US sometime next year, but this can’t be a good indicator of how that is going to go for Depp.
Guy must be absolutely fuming right now as he went into all of this as a desperate bid to save his reputation and now he’s categorically been found out to be a wife beater after an extensive trial and is pretty much being accused of making up a lot of his testimony here as well. Can’t say I feel sorry for the guy, but that’s gonna be a major blow to his life, career and bank balance.
Amber Heard on the other hand must be majorly buzzing so props to her for giving evidence and coming through all this, although having said that she did some pretty questionable things during their relationship as well. The Sun must be popping open the champagne as well – not really sure if that’s a good thing though as well all know what a trash newspaper that is.
They’re the real winners here as even though Heard has won this one (not technically but you know what I mean) she’s still gotta go through another trial and the emotional toll of giving evidence and everything about her private life that has come out will probably affect her for years to come. Hopefully this result will provide some vindication for her though.
For more of the same, here’s all the crazy stories that came out about Depp’s life during the trial. Absolute carnage basically.
