Ex-Employee Says Amber Heard Told Twisted Sexual Assault | Entertainment

LONDON (AP) Amber Heards, a former personal assistant, said on Wednesday that she had told the model actress about a violent sexual assault she had endured, only to have Heard divert the story for her own use.

Kate James gave dramatic testimony during the defamation lawsuit of Johnny Depps against a British sensation newspaper which accused the actor of having abused his ex-wife Heard during their relation.

Depp is suing News Group Newspapers, publisher of The Sun, and newspaper editor, Dan Wootton, for an April 2018 article that described him as a woman drummer. He firmly denies having abused Heard.

James, who worked for Heard between 2012 and 2015, testified in favor of Depp and said that she had told Heard that she had been raped with a machete in Brazil about 25 years ago.

She said she was shocked to learn that in a witness statement, Heard had distorted and exploited the incident.

She made direct reference to a violent rape that happened to me 26 years ago and transposed it into her own story and used it for her own use, James said via video link from Los Angeles.

I am a survivor of sexual violence and it is very, very serious to take this position if you are not one, she added.

Heard is scheduled to testify later this week.

Heard, 34, made 14 allegations of violence to Depp, 57, between 2013 and 2016, in places such as his private island in the Bahamas, a rented house in Australia, and a private jet. He denies them all.

Depp and Heard give extremely different accounts of their volatile relationship, which began after their meeting on the set of the 2011 comedy The Rum Diary. They married in Los Angeles in February 2015. Heard filed for divorce. following year and the divorce was finalized in 2017.

Also on Wednesday, the former Depps domain manager accused Heard of asking him to lie under oath after being accused of illegally bringing his two dogs to Australia.

Kevin Murphy said that Heard had pressured him to perjure himself about homeless burrows or risk losing his job.

She wanted me to basically say it was somehow my fault that the paperwork was not completed, so that I could take the blame for it, said Murphy.

Heard was charged in July 2015 with illegally bringing Yorkshire Pistol and Boo terriers to the country earlier that year. She pleaded guilty in April 2016 and escaped conviction after expressing remorse.

In a written witness statement for the Depps defamation case, Murphy said that Heard asked her to incorrectly claim that she did not know it was illegal to bring dogs to Australia, which has rules strict animal quarantine. Murphy said Heard said I wanted your help on this. I would not want you to have a problem with your work.

Murphy testified before the London High Court by video link from Chicago on Wednesday. He was accused of lying by the Suns’ lawyer, Sasha Wass, who pointed out that he later made a misleading statement in the Australian court case. Murphy said he did it at the request of Heards because he was afraid of losing his job.

Why the hell didn’t you go to Mr. Depp and ask him to intervene rather than just lying? asked the lawyer.

Murphy said: Because Amber had so much power and would have made my life miserable.

The Murphys account was supported by James, who was Heards’ personal assistant between March 2012 and February 2015.

In a written statement from a witness, James said that Heard ignored her and Murphy’s advice that taking the dogs to Australia would be problematic.

She said that Heard deliberately introduced the dogs to Australia. As in several circumstances that I observed, it was as if she felt herself above the law.

James described Heard as a demanding employer, claiming that she received inconsistent and abusive text messages from Heard between 2 a.m. and 4 a.m. almost daily.

Wass, the Suns’ lawyer, suggested that James was colluding with Depp to tell lies that made Heard look bad.

It’s just not true, said James.