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"Pirates of the Caribbean" star Depp is suing
News Group Newspapers, publishers of The Sun, and one of its
journalists, Dan Wootton, over a 2018 article that called him a
"wife beater".
Depp, 57, and his former wife Heard, 34, both gave evidence at
the trial. Depp said he was never violent towards Heard or any
other woman and she was the one who attacked him.
Heard described multiple incidents when she said Depp assaulted
her, and on Monday her lawyer said that the allegation of wife
beating was true and that Depp was a "hopeless addict."
In a closing speech, Depp's lawyer David Sherborne said Heard
changed her story and relied on unreliable witnesses to back up
false claims.
While Depp had been open about his use of drugs and alcohol,
Sherborne said, Heard had changed her story and played down her
own use of drugs and alcohol as well as her issues with anger
and jealousy.
"She is the abuser, not Mr Depp. He is no wife beater,"
Sherborne told the court, adding her "lack of credibility" had
been proven in the evidence she had given.
A tape recording of Heard and Depp was played to the court where
Depp tells Heard she is lying when she says she didn't punch
him, which Sherborne said demonstrated Heard's "propensity to
violence."
"Don't tell me what it feels like to be punched," Depp said in
the recording, before Heard retorts: "I hit you like this. But I
did not punch you."
Sherborne said that such an admission that Heard hit her partner
would have caused a furore if roles were reversed.
"If it was Mr Depp ... can you imagine what consternation there
would be?" he said.
A ruling is not expected immediately.
(Reporting by Alistair Smout; editing by Guy Faulconbridge and
Mike Collett-White)
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