Thread by @nickwallis

Biggest queue of the trial so far for Day 2 of Johnny Depp giving evidence for #DeppvHeard. #JohnnyDepptrial

As you may know my presence here is both crowdfunded AND funded by fees from a UK broadcaster who sponsored my visa. I only spent a small amount of time in court this morning before having to go out and file for 5 News and then all hell of tech problems commenced...

... we did make it to air. Which I want to show you.

Hmm.

[wonders how to add an existing tweet to a thread]

Not sure whether this will work, but this was the v short hit we did:

https://twitter.com/5_News/status/1516827786886922250

Oh good, it did.

Anyway that was recorded in a blind panic as I was on the verge of a stress-related meltdown due to none of my stupid kit working.

So it means I kinda lost most of the morning’s evidence.

I have been sitting outside court trying to watch on catch-up, but I have also been chatting to those who were in court and I have been approached and rather waylaid by Michael, one of today’s spectators, who is a prophet of Jesus Christ and convinced the antichrist is...

Jared Leto, of course!

He’s given me a nice book all about it which I will take a photo of when I am OUTSIDE the court building, because to do so inside would be a CRIMINAL OFFENCE, something some spectators still seem to struggle with.

It’s a nice book, though. Well - nicely put together. I’m not sure Jared Leto is the antichrist, but Michael did seem like a reasonable, if earnest young man.

Anyway - we’re just about to go back in for the afternoon’s evidence. I will try to give you a whistlestop tour of the evidence this morning before diving back into court for the rest of the day. It feels a bit wrong to be using a wristband which could go to someone else to sit..

… outside and tweet.

Some people have got in touch asking why the feed went dead for a bit - it’s (we think) because the rather gruesome fingertip injury sustained by JD was being shown in open court.

I’ve just had a response saying it wasn’t to cut out because of the injury which was shown. In that case I don’t know why it cut out - but I am assured by those in court nothing out of the ordinary happened. No drama in the witness box or in court. I asked at least half a...

… dozen people.

Sorry.

Anyways. The evidence of this morning in Very Few Tweets.

Started off with JD telling court that AH started arguments by disagreeing with him on what he knew eg about film-making. He would stand up for himself

… and the arguments would develop and become circular.

He sustained what he called a “rapid fire endless parade of insults”

And eventually he gave up trying to argue and did what he did as a kid which was remove himself. Said at one point he realised he’d married his...

… mother and AH was subjected him to psychological abuse.

And physical abuse. He claims he was slapped, shoved, had a TV remote thrown at him - a glass of wine thrown in his face.

He said the single most important thing to him was being a good parent.

… AH told him he was a terrible parent.

Says AH has a “need” for violence. Talks about recording conversations being his idea, but the AH began to act on the recordings and record him surrepticiously.

Gets on to the Monster which was made great play of back in London. Says it was her term and he didn’t agree with it but he just left it after a while as it wasn’t worth arguing about.

Says she took mushrooms and MDMA and whilst he was detoxing she refused to give up...

… drinking. She would put away two bottles of wine on an evening.

Says she would hit the roof and accuse him of drinking and taking drugs even when he wasn’t.

“It breaks you down. The constant haranguing breaks you down."

Says she massively overplayed his substance abuse.

The first alleged violent incident, over her laughing at his tattoo, he says it doesn’t make sense. He wouldn’t get violent over someone making fun of his tattoo.

Wonders why anyone would try to get anyone to see their perspective through violence.

On accusations of violence on the Boston to LA flight - he said she was looking to start an argument with him whilst he was sketching, there was no violence and he moved to the bathroom...

… locked it and went to sleep.

Talks about the island detox from opiates. Talks about going through withdrawal and needing his meds and AH refusing them because it wasn’t the right time.

Said it was the lowest point of his life. “The lowest I’d ever felt as a human being.”

She was adamant. “No - it’s not time."

Says a lot of people were taking MDMA at his wedding to AH - the schedule that came from AH after the wedding was entitled “dinner, dancing and drugs”

Amber, Rocky, a couple of friends of his, Savannah (AH’s assistant), iO t-w - "all of her gang were all partaking of the MDMA"

JD says he did not take any MDMA. Says it would not have an effect on him.

He smoked dope but doesn’t remember having a drink.

On the pre-nup - said the attorney she met with was rude, dismissive and was only shown an example pre-nup. She was upset and said to the lawyer that JD would not agree to a pre-nup. And she said the lawyer laughed at her and said “oh he knows, he knows everything"

In Oz she kept saying “I’m not even in your will”

which JD thought was a strange thing to say. and she could not let go of this post-nup and that he was “in on” it.

JD tells the story of the finger incident. They’d had an argument, he’d gone to lock himself in a room to get away. He came out and went downstairs to the house bar. He started drinking for the first time since his detox. AH was not around. He pulled “two or three stiff shots"

AH found him there and said “'Oh you’re drinking again’ - the monster and all that”.

She grabbed the bottle of vodka, stepped back and threw it at him. It went past him and smashed behind him.

So he went and got a larger bottle of vodka. Opened it, poured a shot...

… drank it. AH picked up that bottle, and threw it at him.

This time the bottle apparently lands on his hand, which is resting on his seat. He said he felt no pain, but “heat”. He looked down and saw the end of his finger had been severed.

“I was looking directly at my bones sticking out and the meaty portion of the inside of your finger. Blood was just pouring out. And at that point I think that I went into some sort of… I don’t know what a nervous breakdown feels like but i think that’s the closest I’ve ever...

… been. And I thought - this is not life… no one should have to feel like this… I started to write in my own blood on the walls - little reminders from our past… lies I had caught her in."

Went to hide in the bathroom and texted Dr Kipper to say he’d cut his finger off.

He is asked which finger he cut and he raises it and says “the funny looking one!"

“All these bones up here were crushed and it looked like Vesuvius.”

Close photos of the injury are shown in court. It’s pretty grim.

[Lunch]

Afternoon session commences. Next subject is a photo of him with an injury which he says was caused by a “roundhouse punch” by Amber Heard.

We then hear a recording of JD arguing with AH about her throwing pots and pans and punching him in the face. She says “you’re not punched… you got hit.... I did not punch you.... You are fine. I did not hurt you. I did not punch you. I was hitting you… you’re a fucking baby."

It goes on…. “you are such a baby. Grow the fuck up, Johnny.”
JD says: “You started a physical fight.”
AH: "I did start a phyiscal fight”
JD: “Yeah you did, so I had to get the fuck outta there.”
AH: “Yes, you did. So you did the right thing. The big thing. You know what…?"

AD: “You’re ADMIRABLE.”

JD says to the court that this was "the tone and aggression and the need for a fight from Ms Heard"

We see more photographs. Scratches on his face which have already been admitted into evidence.

“Ms Heard had come at me with her nails… hands… scratching me."

Describes one alleged attack whereby JD says he was being beaten, but it didn’t stop so he grabbed her, got her into a bear hug, but she kept kneeing and kicking him. Asked what happened next
“I believe there was some kind of contact with our heads, our foreheads and that was...

… when she accused of giving me a headbutt and breaking her nose. There was no blood. I didn’t hit her nose. If there was anything at all it was a bump… well… I’m trying to restrain her, she’s trying to get out of it… there’s going to be some contact… but not a headbutt."

JD then tells a story of going away for a few minutes and she came back with a tissue up her nose which she pulls out and there is red on it.
She says “way to go Johnny you broke my nose”
Says he knew he hadn’t but tried to placate her but she wouldn’t let him.

He waited for her to throw the tissue away because he “didn’t trust it". He picked it out of the bin after she left and inspected it closely and says it was nail polish.

We’re back on the island. JD alleges AH was violent to him - hit him on the bridge of the nose - and claims there were witnesses - staff who live on the island.

We move on to AH’s birthday in 2016 and there is a light moment in court.
“We’d set up a dinner for her… with her… friends and Josh Drew.. who is some sort of chef… he asked her what he’d like for him to cook.”
[AH’s attorney stands up]
JD “that’s hearsay I guess."

Judge: “I’m not even sure if it’s offered for the truth of the matter”
AH attorney: “He got it.”
JD: “I’m learning…"

We go to the story about his business meeting before the dinner where he discovered he’d been allegedly swindled of several million dollars.
“Having worked 30-something years in the industry I was pretty shocked… to learn where I was financially."

His lateness to the dinner causes an argument later that night. He says she starts being violent with him, so he grabs her by the shoulders and tells him he’s leaving and tells her not to follow him. She follows him and he asks what she’s going to do - hit him again?

So he alleges that’s exactly what she did. Twice. Asks her if she’s done/ Then he says he grabbed her by the shoulders, took her to the bed and told her he was leaving and she was not to follow him.

So he grabbed his stuff, went to his house in Sweetzer Avenue and that was the end of the relationship.

We get to the poo incident. Whilst AH is at Coachella JD decides to get some stuff, but his staff tells him its not a good time. He asks why.

He is shown a photo by his security team of “human faecal matter” on the bed in the Penthouse (where he was no longer living)...

…

“I understood why it was not a good time to go down there…. I laughed. It was so outside, so bizarre… so grotesque. I could only laugh. So I did not go down there that day."

We go to the May 21 2016 incident (I really can’t get used to the US way of writing dates).

JD went over to the ECB PH to have a discussion about the ending of their relationship.

JD “I thought [it] would be calm, understanding. I figured that she understood as well as I did that there was no way back…I thought she would undrstand... it was the best thing for both of us… I told her that I would take care of her and all that..."

JD “She brought up the situation of her faecal matter on the bed and I, er… and she tried to blame it on the dogs.”
Attorney: “Why do you think it cou;dn’t have been the dogs?”
JD: “they’re teacup yorkies, they weigh about 4lbs each… I lived with those dogs for many years…."

“so did Hilda Vargas… she’s been with me for 30+ years…. and she was the one who photographed it. She knew the dogs as well as I did... That did not come from a dog. It just didn’t."

On 21 May JD went to the pH with his security. Wanted them on hand in case anything kicked off.

It kicked off largely over the poo incident. They argued. JD went upstairs, he came back downstairs and AH was on the phone with iO and they were laughing at the idea...

“that I thought that some human being had dropped a grumpy onto the bed… they were laughing about the whole thing. It was a tough couple of days and I really didn’t feel like I deserved that kind of treatment.”

He took the phone of iO and said “you can have her now. She’s...

… all yours. He threw “flopped” the phone onto the couch and suddenly Rocky Pennington ran into the PH and shouted “leave her alone Johnny, leave her alone”

"I was 20 feet away… that’s when the screaming started. Again, I’m 20 feet away. She’s got iO on the phone. She’s got...

… Rocky there. ‘Stop hitting me Johnny’ she’s screaming in her best freaked-out upset voice. ‘Stop hitting me, stop hitting me’”

JJ and Sean Bett enter the room. AH is surprised. She says “That’s the last time youlll ever hit me that’s the last time you’ll ever do that to me."

“And again, I’m a good 20 feet away over by the fridge.”

JJ suggests they leave.

[afternoon break]
[I’m going to go in for the final session today, so no more live-tweets from me for the rest of the day. If you can, watch it live here: ]

There will be a full newsletter at the end of the day if you want a summary. For a one off donation you can get on the mailing list for the remainder of the trial. It also powers the live-tweets and youtube updates too:

reportingdeppvheard.net/newsletter/

I am grateful.

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