Virginia.- A hand surgeon testified Monday that Johnny Depp could not have lost the tip of his middle finger the way he told the jury in his civil lawsuit against his ex-wife Amber Heard.

The finger injury, which occurred in March 2015 in a fight in Australia between Depp and Heard, has been one of several key points of contention in the lawsuit. Depp says he was injured when Heard threw a bottle of vodka at him. Heard has said that she never specifically saw how it happened, but that it happened one night when an enraged Depp sexually assaulted her with a liquor bottle.

Depp is suing Heard for defamation in Fairfax County Circuit Court over a December 2018 op-ed she wrote in The Washington Post describing herself as “a public figure representing domestic abuse .” Her lawyers say she was defamed by the article even though she never mentioned her name.

Depp has denied hitting Heard and says she was the abuser in the relationship. Heard has testified about more than a dozen separate cases of physical abuse that she says she suffered at the hands of Depp.

In his testimony Monday, surgeon Richard Moore testified about the amputated finger as jurors viewed gruesome photos of the injury. He said Depp described her palm as being on a bar when she was hit by the bottle.

Moore, who did not treat Depp, testified that Depp‘s description is unlikely, largely because his fingernail remained intact. Moore said the nail was exposed, as Depp described the location of his hand, and would have been damaged. Moore also said there would have been other cuts on the rest of his hand from the glass that shattered on impact.

While Depp told the jury that Heard cut his finger throwing a vodka bottle, at the time of the accident he told people and texted that he did it to himself. At one point he said the finger had been pinched between solid accordion doors.

Depp now says he lied to protect Heard. Moore testified that pinching the finger on the accordion doors would be consistent with the injury.

The trial is now in its sixth week. Monday’s testimony was relatively mundane in a trial that has provided an ugly glimpse into the couple’s toxic relationship. Heard’s lawyers were expected to call Depp to the stand on Monday, but that did not happen. Heard’s attorney, Elaine Bredehoft, said late Monday that they are still discussing whether or not to call him.

Jurors had already heard from both Depp and Heard: each was on the stand for four days, subjected to grueling cross-examination.

Also Monday, a psychiatrist testified that Depp‘s behavior fits the pattern of a person whose drug and alcohol abuse contributes to domestic violence.

Depp’s attorney, Wayne Dennison, questioned the ethics and credibility of the psychiatrist’s views, given that he never examined Depp.

Later Monday, Dennison questioned another Heard witness, entertainment expert Kathryn Arnold, at length about her claim that Heard lost between $40 million and $50 million when another Depp attorney called Heard’s abuse claims a “cheated”. Heard has filed a counterclaim against Depp based on those statements.

Arnold said he compared Heard‘s career to “comparable” stars such as Gal Gadot, Jason Momoa, and Zendaya to show where Heard’s career would have gone if Depp’s lawyer Adam Waldman hadn’t smeared her.

Dennison, in his cross-examination, scoffed at the idea that Heard was in the same league as those stars. He also dismissed Heard‘s role as Mera in the “Aquaman” superhero movie franchise, saying the upcoming “Aquaman” sequel is more like a “buddy sitcom” than a movie featuring Heard as a romantic lead.

The trial has drawn increasing public attention for its length. People camped out overnight and scrambled for places in line as they sought one of the 100 seats in the courtroom allotted to the public. During a morning break, a woman declared her love for Depp and asked her when she was going to admit that he was the father of the baby she was holding in her arms.