Johnny Depp’s security guard allegedly had to pay a homeless man $425 in cash and buy him three chicken tacos to retrieve the star’s cell phone after Depp’s former wife, Amber Heard, threw it from a balcony, the guard told a London court Thursday during Depp’s libel trial against the publisher of The Sun newspaper.
Depp is suing News Group Newspapers and journalist Dan Wootton for an article on The Sun website that described him as a “wife beater.” Depp denies that he was violent toward Heard, to whom he was married from 2015 to 2017.
The security guard, Starling Jenkins III, said it took him three and a half hours to locate the handset, eventually finding the man who’d picked it up.
Events unfolded on April 22, 2016, when Jenkins arrived at the couple’s Los Angeles penthouse in the Eastern Columbia Building the day after Heard’s 30th birthday party.
“When I entered the residence, Amber explained to me that she had thrown Johnny’s cell phone – and the wallet containing it – off the balcony of the residence, and that she was using the Find My iPhone application on another cell phone to locate Johnny’s phone.”
“The Find My iPhone application indicated that Johnny’s phone was somewhere on the streets below the balcony of the residence.”
“I walked out onto the street, did not see the phone, and I then asked several homeless people if they had it.”
“One homeless man admitted to me that he had the phone, and he returned the phone to me in exchange for the following: (1) $425 cash; (2) three chicken tacos; (3) two bags of chips; (4) two apples; and (5) four bottles of water.”
Heard has alleged that on the evening of her birthday party, Depp threw a bottle of champagne at her, grabbed her by her hair and shoved her, all of which he denies.
The following day, Jenkins came to the residence to accompany Heard and her friends to the Coachella music festival, near Palm Springs.
He alleged: “During the weekend, I heard Amber frequently express her anger that Johnny did not come to her birthday party on April 21, but she did not say one thing or make any innuendos about allegations of domestic violence.”
“She was hooping it up all weekend, and it was clear that she and her girlfriends spent much of the time at Coachella intoxicated.”
He alleged he saw Heard vomiting in the car park during the trip and was “clearly dehydrated,” adding he gave her ginger ale, crackers, a rehydration drink and possible Gatorade.
It was revealed Thursday that Depp’s former partners, Winona Ryder and Vanessa Paradis, will not be giving evidence at the trial.
Both have submitted written evidence that state Depp was never violent toward them. The Sun’s attorney has made it clear that she will not attempt to dispute that.