Johnny Depp, Amber Heard trial: Kate Moss to testify, sliced finger claim ‘not consistent’

A surgeon has made a bombshell revelation about Johnny Depp’s infamous Gold Coast incident as supermodel Kate Moss gets set to testify. Warning: Graphic

Johnny Depp’s injuries when his finger was sliced off in a 2015 fight with Amber Heard on the Gold Coast are “not consistent” with the actor’s claims that it was cut off by a vodka bottle hurled at him, the star’s defamation trial has heard.

It came as it emerged that supermodel Kate Moss will take the stand in the explosive trial as the legal teams bring out more big guns.

Dr Richard Moore, The New York Post reports, told the court during his 25-year career he had operated on finger injuries like Depp’s after his fight with Heard in Australia “hundreds of times”.

Johnny Depp, pictured arriving at court, has claimed Amber Heard caused his finger injury. Picture: AFP

Dr Richard Moore testifies in the courtroom about Johnny Depp’s injuries. Picture: AFP

During the drink and drug-fuelled argument at the pair’s Gold Coast luxury rental house, where they were staying while Depp was filming Pirates of the Caribbean 5, the actor’s fingertip got sliced off.

Depp has claimed that Heard caused the horrific injury when she threw a bottle of vodka at him.

She has claimed that he smashed it off with a phone.

The court has heard from witnesses who said that Depp told them he cut it off himself, something he admitted in text messages.

Amber Heard at the Fairfax County Circuit Courthouse. Picture: AFP

Testifying as an expert for Heard’s legal team, Dr Moore, an orthopaedic surgeon based in North Carolina, said that the idea that Depp’s finger was sliced off with a bottle was “not consistent” with the evidence.

He said: “It’s not consistent with what we see in the described injury pattern or clinical photographs”.

The jury were shown graphic photos of Depp’s injured finger and X-rays which Dr Moore said showed multiple tiny fragments of bone in the tip and a “comminuted fracture” which was associated with a crush injury.

Such crush injuries could be caused by a finger getting caught in a sliding door or a car door.

Depp claimed that the bottle he alleges was thrown by Heard “exploded’ after hitting his hand but Dr Moore said the absence of glass injuries on his hand suggested this was not the case, The New York Post reports.

Johnny Depp was taken to hospital after the Gold Coast incident. Picture: Schillings

An image showing Johnny Depp’s horrific finger injury. Picture: TMZ

Johnny Depp displays his middle finger in court last month. Picture: AFP

He said that the medical files he reviewed “did not document the presence of any glass shards and no other associated injuries on the hand”.

Heard's legal team changed its mind on calling Depp back to the witness stand on Monday, saying his testimony would be “as relevant to us as a bicycle to a fish”.

“Everything Depp has testified up to this point has been irrelevant to the heart of this case, and there’s no reason to believe it would be any different now,” the statement said.

More relevant will be testimony from British fashion icon Moss, who is scheduled to appear via video link on Wednesday, according to sources quoted by The New York Post.

Johnny Depp and Kate Moss at Cannes in 1997. Picture: Getty Images

Moss will deliver evidence at the $US50m trial after she was name-dropped by Heard last week, with legal experts indicating that mentioning Depp’s ex-girlfriend allowed his legal team to call her as a witness.

Lawyers for the actor were seen “fist-bumping” when Heard mentioned the model during her testimony about a March 2015 fight, in which Heard said she “instantly” thought about “Kate Moss and the stairs”.

Amber Heard’s reference to Kate Moss in court had Johnny Depp’s lawyers ‘fist-bumping’. Picture: AFP

While unrelated misconduct isn’t allowed to be brought up during trial, the mentioning of Moss’s name created an opportunity for defence lawyers to debunk a long-running rumour that Depp pushed his then-girlfriend down a flight of stairs during the 1990s.

“That’s one mistake that (Heard) made, was bringing up Kate Moss, which potentially opened the door to (Depp’s team) bringing (Moss) on as an impeachment witness” — and Moss “saying ‘This never happened,’” California entertainment lawyer Mitra Ahouraian told the Post.

The pair dated between 1994 and 1997 and have remained friends since. After the name-drop by Heard, a source close to Depp told The Post: “Amber mentioned an ex of Johnny’s that clearly she felt was not supportive of him, which couldn’t be further from the truth”.

The genetically blessed pair were together between 1994 and 1997. Picture: WireImage

Heard also made the allegation that her ex-husband had once shoved Moss down a flight of stairs during Depp’s failed 2020 defamation trial against The Sun in the UK.

“I remembered information I had heard [that] he pushed a former girlfriend — I believe it was Kate Moss — down the stairs. I had heard this rumour from two people and it was fresh in my mind,” she told the British court two years ago.

David Spiegel, a psychiatrist, testified that Depp had “narcissistic traits” and behaviour that indicated he had a substance use disorder.

Judge Penney Azcarate has scheduled closing arguments in the case for Friday, after which it will go to the jury.

- Additional reporting by AFP