デップさん名誉毀損裁判、元妻「殺されると思った」と証言

【ロンドンＡＦＰ＝時事】米俳優ジョニー・デップさん（57）が、英大衆紙サンなどを相手取って名誉毀損（きそん）で訴えている裁判で、元妻で米女優のアンバー・ハードさん（34）が20日、ロンドンの高等法院に出廷し、デップさんから殺すと繰り返し脅迫を受けたと証言した。（写真は高等法院に出廷したアンバー・ハードさん）
　３週目を迎えたこの裁判でハードさんは、デップさんから、どなる、暴言を吐く、脅す、殴る蹴る、頭突きをする、首を絞めるといった言葉の暴力および身体的虐待を受けていたと主張。
　「時には非常に深刻な事態に陥り、故意に、または抑えがきかなくなって度を越してしまい、殺されると思った」「特に関係が終盤になると、はっきりと何度も殺すと脅された」と証言した。
　ハードさんは、デップさんが時に「モンスター」と呼ぶ「自分でつくり出した第三者」に自らの行為を責任転嫁することもあったと指摘。
　その上で、被害者は自分の方だと考え、自分の行動を許してくれる、またはとがめない人々のみを自身のそばに置き、自分の行動に責任を取ったことは一度もないと批判した。
　この裁判でデップさんは、自身を「ワイフビーター（妻虐待者）」と表現したサン紙の２０１８年の記事をめぐり、同紙と出版元のニューズ・グループ・ニューズペーパーズ（ＮＧＮ）、さらに記事執筆者を提訴。
　デップさんは、ＮＧＮ側が記事の内容の証拠として挙げた暴力行為１４件を否定しており、この記事によって深刻な名誉毀損の被害を受けたと主張している。
　デップさんのかつてのパートナーである、仏女優のヴァネッサ・パラディさんと米女優のウィノナ・ライダーさんはいずれも、デップさんは温和で暴力的ではなかったと話している。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2020/07/21-13:27）

Amber Heard on Monday claimed that her ex-husband Johnny Depp threatened to kill her on a number of occasions, as she took the stand for the first time in the Hollywood star's high-profile London libel action.
The 34-year-old actress accused the Pirates of the Caribbean star, 57, of being manipulative, controlling and intimidating in their stormy two-year marriage, which ended in divorce in 2017.
She said he subjected her to verbal and physical abuse, including screaming, swearing, threats, punches, slaps, kicks, head-butts and choking.
Some incidents were so severe that I was afraid he was going to kill me, either intentionally or just by losing control and going too far, she said in a witness statement.
He explicitly threatened to kill me many times, especially later in our relationship.
Heard, who first met Depp on the set of the 2011 film The Rum Diary, said the actor blamed his actions on a self-created third party he sometimes named the monster.
But he never took responsibility for his actions, seeing himself as the victim and surrounding himself with enablers who excused or did not challenge his behaviour, she alleged.
Depp is suing the publishers of British tabloid The Sun, News Group Newspapers (NGN), and the author of a 2018 article that labelled him a wife beater at the High Court in London.
He has denied 14 claims of violence that NGN said proves the claim, portraying Heard as a calculating, dishonest, sociopathic fantasist intent on destroying his life.
The article in The Sun caused him serious reputational damage, he argues.
His former partners, the French actress and singer Vanessa Paradis and Hollywood star Winona Ryder, have both said he was kind and non-violent.
- 'Violent and dark' -
Heard described what she said was a three-day hostage situation on a visit to Australia in March 2015 during a break from filming.
She said she felt trapped and isolated with a violent person suffering from manic depression, bipolar disorder and a pattern of repeated, drug-induced psychosis and violence, who was on a multiple-day drug and alcohol binge.
Over the course of those three days, there were extreme acts of psychological, physical, emotional and other forms of violence, she added.
It is the worst thing I have ever been through. I was left with an injured lip and nose and cuts on my arms.
She alleged Depp made all kinds of nonsensical accusations about her, had strange, paranoid hallucinations, urinated in front of other people, and hid raw meat in a wardrobe.
The actress, who starred in Aquaman and The Danish Girl, said their relationship veered from initially intensely affectionate, warm and charming to very intense and dark.
When I say he was dark, he had a violent and dark way of speaking: the way he talked about our relationship being 'dead or alive' and telling me that death was the only way out of the relationship, she said in her testimony.
Heard said she thought she could fix the star, who has had well-documented battles with drink and drugs, and that she felt responsible for trying to help him overcome addiction.
After violent episodes, his team would try to convince me to stay with him or to come back, often telling me he was sorry and would get clean for me, she said.
The case, now in its third week, has lifted the lid on Depp's lifestyle, with nine days of evidence focusing on his use of drink and drugs.
NGN lawyers allege Depp was a Jekyll and Hyde character and controlling and physically abusive towards Ms Heard, particularly when he was under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs.
Depp insists he never hit Heard or any other woman in his life, instead accusing her of violence, including one incident when his finger was severed by a flying vodka bottle.