Actor Johnny Depp’s wife, Amber Heard, yesterday pleaded guilty to providing a false immigration document amid allegations she smuggled the couple’s dogs to Australia, but managed to avoid jail time over what was dubbed the “war on terrier” debacle.
Prosecutors dropped two more serious charges that Heard illegally imported the Yorkshire terriers, Pistol and Boo, into the nation last year, when Depp was filming the fifth movie in the Pirates of the Caribbean series. A conviction on the illegal importation counts could have sent the actress to prison for up to 10 years.
The false documents charge carries a maximum penalty of a year in jail and a fine of more than A$10,000 (US$7,650), but Magistrate Bernadette Callaghan sentenced Heard to a one-month good behavior bond. The condition means she would have to pay a A$1,000 fine if she commits any offenses in Australia over the next month.
Photo: Reuters
Depp and Heard said little to the waiting throng of reporters and fans outside the Southport Magistrates Court on Queensland’s Gold Coast, but did submit a videotaped apology to the court that was played during the hearing.
“When you disrespect Australian law, they will tell you firmly,” Depp said in the video.
The drama over the dogs began in May last year, when Australian Minister of Agriculture Barnaby Joyce accused Depp of smuggling the tiny terriers aboard his private jet when he returned to Australia to resume filming the Pirates of the Caribbean movie.
Australia has strict quarantine regulations to prevent diseases such as rabies from spreading to its shores. Taking pets into the nation involves applying for a permit and quarantine on arrival of at least 10 days.
“If we start letting movie stars — even though they have been the sexiest man alive twice — to come into our nation [with pets], then why don’t we just break the laws for everybody?” Joyce said at the time. “It is time that Pistol and Boo buggered off back to the United States.”
Depp and Heard were given 72 hours to send Pistol and Boo back to the US, with officials warning that the dogs would otherwise be euthanized. The pooches boarded a flight home just hours before the deadline ran out.
The comments by Joyce, who is now Australian deputy prime minister, elevated what might otherwise have been a local spat into a global delight for comedians and broadcasters. One newspaper ran a doggie death countdown ticker on its Web site that marked the hours remaining before the dogs had to flee the nation, and comedian John Oliver dedicated a more than six-minute segment to lampooning the ordeal.
Depp himself poked fun at the drama during a news conference in Venice, Italy, last year where he was asked if he planned to take the dogs for a gondola ride.
“No. I killed my dogs and ate them, under direct orders from some kind of, I don’t know, sweaty, big-gutted man from Australia,” Depp said.
Joyce posted a link to the couple’s apology video on his Facebook page, and later told reporters he doubted it was something the pair would have “willingly wanted to do.” However, he gave them credit for acknowledging they had made a mistake.
“I am happy that Miss Heard has admitted that she was wrong and, as such, that clearly shows that our position in pursuit of this was correct,” Joyce told journalists. “Every nation has something that they are red hot about, and we are red hot about our biosecurity requirements in this nation.”
When asked why Depp was not charged as well, the prosecutors’ office said that there had been a “lack of admissible evidence” against anyone except Heard.
Heard’s lawyer, Jeremy Kirk, yesterday told the court that his client never meant to lie on her incoming passenger card by failing to declare she had animals with her.
In truth, she was simply jet-lagged and assumed her assistants had sorted out the paperwork, Kirk said.
“She has made a tired, terrible mistake,” Kirk added.
Prosecutor Peter Callaghan said ignorance and fatigue were no excuse.
“The laws apply to everyone,” he said.
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