A Keith sheep-worrying trial was thrown out of court after the Crown failed to prove the ownership of the two dogs involved.
Jim Pirie was accused of letting two dogs run around “at large” through fields of sheep at Towiemore Farm near Keith last year.
The 74-year-old appeared at Elgin Sheriff Court to represent himself in the case which heard Crown evidence from father and son farmers Graeme and Ryan Smith.
Sheep worrying filmed
Ryan Smith, 28, told the court he had filmed two dogs chasing sheep on April 12, 2023.
The video was played to the court and showed a black and white dog chasing a sheep over a field, disappearing over the brim of the hill and running towards the field’s border.
Mr Smith jnr told the court he had filmed the incident as there had been two previous events that he’d not managed to catch on camera but had been reported to the police.
On those occasions, a black and white collie-type dog and one small white dog were involved.
Mr Smith jnr said there had been no one with the two dogs and he and his father had followed them to their neighbour Mr Pirie’s house, where they were found sitting outside.
He said: “All the sheep in that field were either lambing or had lambed. They were all quite startled for a couple of weeks after.
“We found the dogs sitting outside our neighbour’s house, no sign of the owner.”
Mr Pirie cross-examined the witness and asked if he had a brother with blonde hair, to which Mr Smith replied, “yes”.
However, when Sheriff Pasportnikov interrupted and queried the relevance of the question, Mr Pirie replied: “That is all I have to say,” and sat down.
Lifeless lamb
Graeme Smith, 61, also gave evidence and described the moment he found a dead lamb in his field, shortly after his son had captured the video footage of the dogs.
He said: “I found it in a ditch. It had blood on its tail. It was lying with its eyes wide open. It had a terrified look on its face – the poor thing.
“It was still warm when I picked it up – I think it had only been dead for a few minutes.”
He explained that a further two ewes had been so upset by the dogs that they had aborted their lambs – all had a value of £150, the court heard.
No DNA evidence
In his cross-examination of Mr Smith snr, Mr Pirie asked if he could provide any DNA evidence, to which Mr Smith replied: “No.”
The court also heard evidence from veterinary surgeon Pernille Jorgensen who carried out a post-mortem on the dead lamb for the police.
A photograph of the animal was displayed, which showed blood staining on its coat around the neck.
Ms Jorgensen said her findings had concluded the lamb had been killed by a dog attack, adding: “It suffered acute trauma of the neck and a haematoma suggested this happened while it was still alive.”
Police constable Christopher MacKinnon also gave evidence and was asked if he had made enquiries into who owned the dogs on the video footage.
He replied: “The father and son believed the dogs were owned by the accused – both dogs as described were at the property.”
Constable MacKinnon pointed out Pirie in the dock and said the dogs were a black and white collie and a white Jack Russell.
When cross-examining the constable, Mr Pirie asked him again what the colour of the dogs were and if the small dog was white, he replied: “I don’t know.”
‘No case to answer’
Sheriff Pasportnikov said: “There was no mention if Mr Pirie’s dogs had been found with blood on them and it was not clear from the video footage if the dogs were the same as found outside Pirie’s house.”
She concluded: “For these reasons, I do not consider there is a case to answer. This would be better tried in a civil court.”
Mr Pirie, of Tenrood, Towiemore, was told he was free to go.
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