Depp may face perjury charges in Australia over ‘dog gate’
SYDNEY: Johnny Depp could face perjury charges in Australia after the deputy prime minister threatened Tuesday to unleash a new chapter in a pet dog case dubbed the “war on terrier.”
The “Pirates of the Caribbean” star and his then-wife Amber Heard fell foul of Australia’s strict quarantine laws when they failed to declare her canines, Pistol and Boo, on arrival in the country on a private jet in 2015.
Heard escaped with a fine and a good behavior bond, but a lawsuit between Depp and his former management has revived the spat amid allegations the actor was aware he was breaching the laws.
Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce, who has been a vocal critic of Depp, said if the allegations were true “there’s a word for that: It is called perjury.”
“I might have another look at this,” he added, in an interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
Joyce sparked global headlines two years ago when he threatened to have the animals put down unless they “buggered off back to the US,” igniting a war of words with Depp.
The couple released an awkward video apologizing, but Joyce mocked Depp as looking like “he was auditioning for the Godfather.”
Depp hit back, telling US talk show host Jimmy Kimmel that Joyce “looks somehow like (he’s) inbred with a tomato.”