LAST UPDATE | 9 Jul 2020
AN AUSTRALIAN HOUSE was left in a “state of complete carnage” after it was trashed by Hollywood actor Johnny Depp, it has been alleged.
The Edward Scissorhands star was accused by lawyers for News Group Newspapers (NGN) of destroying the house in a drink and drug-fuelled rage during a visit to the country in March 2015.
According to one estimate, there was between 100,000 to 150,000 dollars-worth of damage to the property, the High Court was told.
Depp is suing NGN, which publishes The Sun newspaper, over an April 2018 article which labelled him a “wife beater”.
The actor is alleged to have assaulted his ex-wife Amber Heard during the trip to Australia.
The visit is one of 14 alleged incidents of domestic violence, all denied by Depp, relied on by NGN in their defence against the actor’s libel claim.
Cross-examining Mr Depp on the damage to the house, Sasha Wass QC said that on the last day the couple were in Australia, Heard “came downstairs in the morning … and the house was completely destroyed”.
She said: “Everything was broken and shattered, the television, the window, there was paint everywhere and it was clear at that stage that you had very seriously damaged your finger.”
Wass also said the actor had written on a mirror using his injured finger, dipped in paint.
The barrister put it to Depp: “When Ms Heard came down and saw what I suggest was a state of complete carnage in the house, you showed her your right hand … and said ‘look what you made me do’ and she was the one who told you to phone security.”
Depp replied: “I’m afraid that’s not true, it’s incorrect.”
The barrister had earlier suggested Depp had broken a window, which he denied, and had “repeatedly” smashed a telephone against a wall.
The star said this was “possible” adding he remembered “ripping the phone off the wall”.
As she continued cross examining Depp on the damage in the house later today, Wass said there were references to “French settees” which needed re-covering, and she asked: “You did the damage, how long did it take you?”
Depp said “I was a party to the damage” and Wass interrupted: “Amber Heard broke one bottle.”
The actor replied: “Well in fact she threw two bottles at me.
“The first bottle came whizzing past my head and the second smashed … and cut my fingertip off, so she broke two bottles.”
Heard denies injuring Depp’s finger.
Depp was then asked if he remembered a television and a window breaking, to which he said no, and if he recalled damage to the settees and floors, to which he replied: “Yes I remember there was quite a lot of blood everywhere.”
He was then asked who out of himself and Heard did he think did the most damage to the house, to which he answered: “I would say Ms Heard.”
Wass asked the star if he was likely to have forgotten defacing a painting, to which he said he recalled painting on “a lampshade, on a wall, on a mirror” but did not specifically remember the painting.
The barrister read out further messages from Depp’s employees which gave details of the damage, including a television which was worth “10 to 15 grand” and a picture of a woman in a bikini, on which he allegedly “drew a f****** dick on her pussy” – according to one text.
Depp told Wass he did not remember that.
Wass then told the court that in another message, Depp’s then security guard Jerry Judge estimated the damage to the property as being 100,000 to 150,000 dollars.
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