Amber Heard just dodged a potential lawsuit.
According to the government, Australian prosecutors withdrew a prospective criminal case against American actor Amber Heard over claims that she misled a judge about how her Yorkshire terriers Pistol and Boo entered Australia eight years ago.
Heard brought her dogs to Australia’s Gold Coast in 2015, where Depp was filming the fifth instalment of the Pirates of the Caribbean series, and she and her then-husband, Johnny Depp, became involved in a high-profile biosecurity dispute.
A biosecurity watchdog in Australia, the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, said that the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions declined to press charges against 37-year-old Heard for allegedly making up ignorance of the country’s stringent quarantine laws.
“Prosecution action will not be taken against … Heard over allegations related to her sentencing for the illegal import of two dogs,” the department said in a statement.
The department had looked into discrepancies between testimony given in a London court in 2020 when Depp, now 60, was suing The Sun newspaper for libel over allegations of domestic violence against his former wife and what her lawyer told an Australian court in 2016 when she admitted smuggling the dogs.
When the couple transported their canines into Australia aboard a chartered flight a year prior, Heard pleaded guilty in 2016 at the Southport Magistrates Court in Australia to present a fraudulent immigration passport.
A potential 10-year prison term was waived in exchange for less serious allegations that Heard brought the canines into the country illegally.
The maximum punishment for the fraudulent documents accusation was a year in prison and a fine of more than 10,000 Australian dollars ($7,650).
Heard was instead given a one-month good behaviour bond by Magistrate Bernadette Callaghan, under which she would only be required to pay a $1,000 fine if she violated any laws in Australia during that time.
Heard’s attorney, Jeremy Kirk, testified in court that his client never intended to falsify information on her entering passenger card by omitting to state she was travelling with animals. She was actually only jet-weary, according to Kirk, and thought her staff had taken care of the paperwork.
However, Kevin Murphy, a former Depp employee, said in London’s High Court in 2020 that Heard had received numerous warnings that she was not allowed to bring canines to Australia.
She persisted nonetheless, subsequently pressuring a staff member to accept responsibility for violating quarantine rules.
According to the department, it worked with foreign authorities to look into whether Heard had given false testimony about her familiarity with Australian biosecurity rules and whether any employees had fabricated statutory declarations in order to keep their jobs.
Prosecutors received a brief of evidence from the department against Heard, but no charges will be brought.
Depp and Heard complied with a government-imposed 50-hour deadline to fly the puppies back to the United States or have them put down when the pups were found in May 2015 after being transported from the couple’s rented Gold Coast property to a dog grooming shop.
Pistol and Boo were transferred to Heard upon the couple’s 2017 divorce.
[Via]
