Johnny Depp libel trial: Actor insists he 'couldn’t have punched' Amber Heard because he 'was wearing a finger cast’

Film star Johnny Depp told the High Court he could not have punched Amber Heard repeatedly in the face as he had a cast on his wounded finger at the time.

The 57-year-old actor suffered a severed fingertip while filming Pirates of the Caribbean in Australia in early March 2015, and needed surgery in Los Angeles for fractures to the end of the exposed bone.

Heard, who claims she suffered repeated bouts of domestic violence during her marriage to Depp, has alleged the star attacked her on March 23, 2015.

Depp told the court this morning he flew back from Australia for surgery to his wounded finger, revealing he contracted “very painful” MRSA from the wound.

“I flew back from Australia to LA to have surgery on the finger. At the time they put a pin in it, in the fractured bone but to no avail”, he said.

“I ended up getting MRSA in it.”

David Sherborne, representing Depp, showed the court a picture of Depp wearing a cast on his hand following the surgery, pointing out the cast had a cartoon dinosaur on it.

“I think I figured since I was wearing this ridiculous cast with a giant finger, I figured I should have the children’s wrap around it to make it more fun”, Depp told the court.

Mr Sherborne pointed out the image was taken on March 18, 2015, five days before Heard accuses Depp of attacking her using both hands.

“Were you wearing the cast on March 23?”, asked the lawyer, and Depp replied: “Yes.”

Sherborne continued: “With the cast on, would you be able to grab her hair with one hand and punch her repeatedly in the head with the other?”

Depp replied that he would not.

The finger injury is one of the disputed incidents in the high-profile libel trial, with Depp claiming the tip was severed when Heard threw a vodka bottle at his during a row.

However Heard claims the star did it himself, during a drink and drugs binge which she has described as a “three-day hostage situation”.

Depp will shortly conclude his evidence, and his friends and aides are then take to the witness box in the libel trial.

Depp’s personal assistant Stephen Deuters is due to give evidence as well as an artist friend of the star who stayed in the same Los Angeles suite of penthouses where Depp lived with Heard during their volatile marriage.

Mr Deuters was present on a private jet flight from Boston to California in 2014 where Depp is accused of kicking Heard in the back, slapping her across the face, and pelting her with ice cubes in a drug and drink haze.

Heard claims Depp was in a “blind rage” and jealous that she had been shooting intimate scenes with actor James Franco, however Depp denies any violence on the flight and insists claims he was “raging like a monster” are untrue.

The star told the court Heard was the one “screaming” at him during the flight, and he decided to go and sleep on the floor of the plane’s bathroom to avoid a confrontation.

Also due to give evidence is Isaac Baruch, an artist friend of Depp’s who lived in the penthouse apartment complex where Heard claims she was subjected to violent attacks.

The trial continues.

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