Posted on 04/17/2016 4:36:29 PM PDT by naturalman1975
AMBER Heard and her Hollywood superstar husband Johnny Depp have jetted in to the Gold Coast ahead of their date with destiny with a Southport judge.
The most glamorous court case to hit the Gold Coast in years is set to get under way today as Heard stands trial for allegedly smuggling the couples dogs in to the country a year ago, while Depp was shooting Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales on the Gold Coast.
.....
Heard was charged with of two counts of illegal importation and one count of producing a false document, her incoming passenger card, after allegedly smuggling yorkshire terriers Boo and Pistol in to the country on a private jet while Depp was filming the fifth Pirates of the Caribbean movie on the Gold Coast last April.
Then agriculture minister and now Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce famously threatened to have the dogs euthanised if they didnt bugger off back to the US. The dogs were eventually deported.
Heards legal team entered an official plea of not guilty in December.
She could face up to 10 years in jail and a fine of $100,000 if found guilty.
(Excerpt) Read more at heraldsun.com.au ...
It is extremely unlikely a prison term would be imposed but it is technically quite a serious offence with quite a long potential sentence attached.
Australia does take it's quarantine laws seriously - and I was surprised when this happened that some media organisations overseas, particularly in the US, seemed to think this was a joke or an overreaction.
Your courts ought to make an example of her.
L
Although I believe that everyone should follow pet quarantine laws, it should be clear by now whether or not Ms. Heard’s animals caused any disease outbreaks in Australia.
If not, she should be convicted, and a LARGE fine is more in order than a jail term.
It’s the reason Australia does not have rabies.
Joke no, overreaction, yes.
It's both a joke and an overreaction.
Australia doesn't have dogs? Their dogs had evidence of disease? Ten years in jail?
It's a mockery of law, pure bureaucratic ego stomp.
We test every patient every admission for TB. Every one in America gets stuck with tb test
Where did to come from recently? And why don’t those people get stuck with prison sentences?
So is Gold Coast an area of Australia?
I was confused, because Gold Coast was the former colonial name of the nation of Ghana in Africa.
It’s not a joke, Imo.
If perchance her dog was carrying a disease that it was immune to, it could have caused a lot of trouble with Australian native animals that did not have an immunity.
Having said that, she likely only faces a substantial fine.
Australia is completely free of rabies. The most likely vector for this to come into the country is a dog.
We don't want that disease here. So far we have succeeded in keeping it out.
Not guilty.
Because sphere of scofflaws expand as one grows more affluent and influential.
Don’t need to cite an example. You’all see it.
Yes - Gold Coast is a city in southern Queensland. It’s the second largest city in Queensland, the largest non-state Capital city, and the sixth largest city in the country with a population of about 500,000. Its beaches and good weather make it a popular tourist destination.
There are few other places around the world with the name including the one you mentioned.
Zot knows what infectious diseases she has, let alone her dogs.
Maybe Oz would be willing to fine & imprison Depp and set free his baby mama. Chivalry would thus be satisfied, and the world would be spared further disastrous Depp movie bombs.
Thanks for the info.
Laws are for little people.
If I were concerned about rabies, I wouldn’t even think about dogs before thinking about rats. We can account for dogs a lot more easily than for rats.
How does Australia deal with ship rats?
Producing a false document is going to hurt her defense a lot I would think. It shows intent to circumvent the law.
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