Johnny Depp & Amber Heard - Australia (apr 17, 2016 – 16 h, apr 19, 2016 y)

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FROM THE DAILY MAIL 17 MARCH 2016:

Hollywood heavyweight Johnny Depp and his wife Amber Heard have reportedly jetted into Australia ahead of the actress facing court over illegally smuggling their dogs into the country last year.

According to The Courier Mail, the couple arrived Down Under on Sunday in a private plane, ahead of the four-day trial that begins on Monday. The AAP reports that a private jet with the same model that the couple used last year was seen on the Gold Coast at the weekend, having touched down from Hawaii.

It's reported Johnny will be a witness in the case held at Southport Magistrates Court, with the saga making international headlines.

The pair's Australian-based lawyers Ashurst are not commenting on whether they will appear in court.

In May last year, Amber was charged with taking their pet Yorkshire terriers Boo and Pistol into Australia via a private jet, when she came to visit the actor who was filming Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales on the Gold Coast.

She was charged with breaching Australia's quarantine laws and will face two counts of knowingly importing a prohibited product into the country.

There has been mounting speculation that Amber would not attend court in person, with The Courier Mail reporting there were provisions for the blonde to be excused if her team made the appropriate applications.

Amber last year said she would never return to Australia after the incident but said she will be attending the hearing in a statement.

'My decision to defend [these] charges, as will become apparent in the appropriate forum of the Court, is not intended to in any way diminish the importance of Australia's laws,' she said in December.

'I look forward to attending the hearing of these matters. However, as the matters are to be determined by the Court, I will not be making any further statements.'

A court official previously told AFP she was required to be at the hearing.

Meanwhile, there are a total of twelve witnesses at the case.

Last year, then Agriculture Minister and now Deputy Prime Minister of Australia and acting Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce said the dogs might be put down unless they 'buggered off back to the United States'.

They were quickly whisked out of the country before a 72-hour deadline lapsed and the dogs were seized.

Under strict Australian laws designed to keep disease at bay, dogs entering from the United States must be declared and have to spend 10 days in quarantine.

Penalties for contravening the Quarantine Act range from fines to a maximum of 10 years in prison for the worst cases.

In September last year, Johnny laughed off the smuggling accusations and spoke about the saga on Jimmy Kimmel Live!

He joked authorities missed the illegal items he had really smuggled in and called Barnaby a 'weird, sweaty-pated gut man'.

Johnny spoke about the threats made of Amber possibly going to jail because of the incident.

'If they did that I'd just fly to Australia and assault that man,' Johnny said.

'So that I could go to jail.

'We were under the impression that we had all the paperwork done for the dogs. We were there with the dogs in front of everybody,' he insisted.

He joked: 'There might have been other things smuggled. But they seemed to miss that bit.

'Might have been. Could have been,' he added.

Ashurst have been contacted for comment by Daily Mail Australia.

Amber and Johnny's publicists have also been contacted for comment in relation to this story.

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