News/Commentary

Amber Heard in Aussie dog house, facing criminal probe for smuggling, lying about Yorkshire terriers

July 3, 2022 | | Print Article

After an often-dramatic, thoroughly sensationalized defamation trial against Hollywood superstar Johnny Depp left her with her tail tucked between her legs, Amber Heard is now in Australia’s doghouse as the target of an “ongoing” perjury and smuggling investigation.

Back in July 2015, Heard and Depp took their now-infamous trip to Queensland, the Daily Mail reports. Heard failed to declare the doomed couple’s Yorkshire terriers, Pistol and Boo, when she landed in the country — a violation of Australia’s quarantine and biosecurity laws. The doggie duo should have been held in quarantine for ten days.

Heard received two counts of illegally importing her pets — and the dogs were given 72 hours to hightail it out of Oz with their lives — after a grooming salon posted pics of the pampered pups on Facebook several weeks after the couple arrived in the country.

Ultimately, Heard pleaded guilty to falsifying an immigration document — a lesser charge that came with the equivalent of a $7,650 fine. According to her attorney, Jeremy Kirk, the dogs have simply “slipped through the cracks” and there was “no attempt to deceive” on Heard’s part. She had been suffering from sleep deprivation when she ticked the wrong box on the card she received from customs upon arrival.


(Video: You Tube)

That could have been the end of the dog-smuggling saga, but in July 2020, in another sensational Depp trial — this one in London against The Sun newspaper for libel — Depp’s former estate manager Kevin Murphy told the court in a written statement that Heard wanted him to lie under oath to cover for her failure to declare Pistol and Boo.

According to Murphy, he’d repeatedly warned Heard that Australia had strict rules when it came to bringing animals into the country.

“I also explained to Ms. Heard several times the fact that trying to take the dogs into Australia without completing the mandatory process was illegal and could result in very harsh penalties including euthanizing the dogs,” he continued, adding that Heard insisted he provide the Australian court with a “false statement” professing Heard’s ignorance of the requirements.

“When I expressed that I was extremely uncomfortable with this, Ms. Heard said to me, ‘Well I want your help on this… I wouldn’t want you to have a problem with your job,'” Murphy wrote. “It became very apparent that Ms. Heard was threatening my job stability unless I cooperated with providing a declaration that supported her false account for the Australian proceedings.”

Murphy later told the Daily Mail that he had been contacted by the FBI and that he would be cooperating with Australian authorities.

In October 2021, the Daily Mail got the exclusive and reported that Heard was being investigated for perjury after allegedly lying about the circumstances surrounding Pistol and Boos’ Queensland visit, and now a new report confirms that the case is still “ongoing.”

“The Australian Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment has now confirmed that the case is still ‘ongoing,’ telling ET Canada that it is ‘investigating allegations of perjury by Ms. Heard during court proceedings for the 2015 illegal importation of [her] two dogs into Australia,'” the Daily Mail reported.

While it’s unlikely that Australia will move to extradite Heard, the outlet notes that perjury “carries a maximum jail term of 14 years while the latter offence [of smuggling] can result in a seven-year stretch under the Queensland penal code.”

However, the Daily Mail states, Heard could “face arrest if she tried to enter the country again.”

Melissa Fine
Latest posts by Melissa Fine (see all)

Comment

We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.

Latest Articles