Australia's Ex-Dy PM Barnaby Joyce wants Amber Heard behind bars if found guilty of perjury
Australian leader Barnaby Joyce wants Amber Heard to spend time if she is found guilty of perjury. Heard, who recently lost a defamation battle against ex-husband Johnny Depp, is reportedly being probed over court proceedings that were initiated after she went to Australia’s Queensland with Depp in 2015. Her two dogs — teacup yorkies Pistol and Boo — also accompanied her at the time without following the nation's quarantine and biosecurity laws related to pets.
Later, the ‘Aquaman’ actress was pressed with two counts of illegally importing the animals in July 2015. She, however, avoided jail time as she pleaded guilty to falsifying travel documents in a Gold Coast court in April 2016. But the case re-emerged in October last year after DailyMail.com disclosed that “Australian officials were investigating Heard for alleged perjury over claims she lied to authorities about the circumstances in which her dogs were brought into the country.”
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Now, Daily Mail Australia has confirmed the case against Heard is open. The Australian Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment also apparently said that it was “investigating allegations of perjury by Ms. Heard during court proceedings for the 2015 illegal importation of two dogs into Australia. As the matter is ongoing, the department cannot make any further comment.”
Joyce was interviewed by Australian breakfast show ‘Sunrise’ on Thursday, July 7, over the whole fiasco involving the 36-year-old actress. He said, “Those dogs, when they came in, there were a lot of documents that were signed that said there were no animals there. And it now looks like Ms Heard has allegedly not told the truth.”
The 55-year-old also sarcastically stated that just like WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange – an Australian – whom the US wants to extradite so desperately from England, Heard should also be extradited. He remarked, “[The U.S.] wants Julian Assange... [She] can come over to Australia and possibly spend some time at Her Majesty's convenience.”
In Australia, perjury reportedly carries up to 14 years of imprisonment. During the show, Joyce was asked what action is expected against ‘The Rum Diary’ star if she is found guilty, to which he replied: “It's up to the Americans. I suppose the U.S. want to show the purity of it and they're insisting on getting Julian Assange. So [the U.S.] should say, ‘We have got to be fair dinkum and straight with both these things, don't we?’ Let's see how that goes,” before noting that if she ends up in jail he would take care of her dog. “Send it up here and we'll go pigging with it, see if we can knock over a few old boars... I'll look after it, my namesake Barnaby, he'll be safe with me." Heard had named her new puppy Barnaby Joyce in December 2021.
The Deputy Prime Minister also reportedly gave his two cents on the blockbuster Virginia trial as he shared, “Each night you thought, ‘These are two crazy cats and, obviously, don't mind having a drink at night, and they're just tearing the house to pieces and throwing crap at each other.’ It was just bizarre.”
Meanwhile, it has been reported that the Australian authorities are taking help from the FBI in the case. Bobby Chacon, a former Special Agent for the bureau, told Law&Crime: “The FBI maintains an office in Canberra and there are FBI Agents permanently assigned to Australia on a rotating basis. Part of their mission is liaison and assistance so if the Australians needed something from here in the US they would certainly contact the FBI’s Australia Office and the FBI would likely assist.”