A police officer who attended Johnny Depp’s LA penthouse after he allegedly hit Amber Heard in the face with her own mobile phone “did not see any injuries”, the High Court has heard.
On the fourth day of Mr Depp’s libel case against the publisher of The Sun, News Group Newspapers (NGN), Los Angeles Police Department officer Melissa Saenz said she saw no marks on Ms Heard’s face after the alleged incident in May 2016.
Ms Heard, 34, claims the Hollywood star, 57, went to the penthouse “drunk and high”, became “enraged” and then threw her mobile phone at her “like someone throwing a baseball”, which hit her in the eye.
She also claims that Mr Depp started smashing things in the apartment with a wine bottle before leaving.
But Mr Depp says he went to the penthouse to collect some belongings and that Ms Heard’s allegations are part of a “choreographed hoax”.
Ms Saenz, who specialises in domestic violence, was one of two LAPD officers who attended the apartment on May 21 2016, and said Ms Heard was “visibly upset”.
Giving evidence by videolink from Los Angeles, she said: “Her face was red, it was clear that she was crying.”
However, Ms Saenz said it did not appear there were any injuries and told the court her examination of Ms Heard’s face was “extremely thorough”.
She also told the court that she did not know that it was Mr Depp who was alleged to have been violent.
The officer said Ms Heard was “uncooperative” with police and was unwilling to make a statement, and confirmed the case file was closed shortly after officers attended the penthouse.
The officer guessed she was there for “30 to 60 minutes”, but Sasha Wass QC, for NGN, said CCTV showed the officers left about 15 minutes after arriving.
The barrister suggested: “Perhaps you didn’t give the care to this case that you say you did.”
She added: “In fact, Ms Heard had a mark to her right cheek, whether you saw it or whether you didn’t look carefully,” to which Ms Saenz said: “She didn’t.”
The officer said: “I searched the entire flat and there was no damage, there was no broken glass … nothing out of the ordinary.”
Ms Wass also asked about whether Ms Saenz had heard of Sean Bett, a former LAPD officer who worked for Mr Depp as his security guard, and she said she had not.
Ms Saenz confirmed she did not tell anyone else in the apartment building her identity, and that only Ms Heard and the two people with her would have known her name.
Ms Wass said the case file “would only be accessible to the LAPD or someone who had influence within the LAPD”, with which Ms Saenz agreed.
Ms Wass asked if she was “able to say how your identity was released to people outside the LAPD”.
Ms Saenz replied: “I’m not aware.”
Mr Depp’s barrister David Sherborne then asked her: “Did you or did you not get a clear look at Ms Heard’s face?”
He also asked: “Did you see any marks at all of any kind suggesting injury on her face?”
Ms Saenz replied: “No, I didn’t.”
Cross-examining Mr Depp earlier on Friday, Ms Wass said the actor was “spoiling for a fight” with Ms Heard over whether one of their dogs, or one of Ms Heard’s friends, left faeces in the couple’s bed.
She suggested Mr Depp brought up “the defecation incident” to provoke a row, but he said Ms Heard brought it up.
Ms Wass also said that Mr Deppwas “screaming at Ms Heard” and then picked up a magnum of wine and started swinging it around, smashing things with it.
He said: “I disagree.”
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