Criminal proceedings in the case against Scottish gamekeeper William Dick continued yesterday at Dumfries Sheriff Court.
It has been reported that Mr Dick, 24, is accused of bludgeoning and then repeatedly stamping on a buzzard. The alleged offences are reported to have taken place in Sunnybrae, Dumfries, in April 2014. Mr Dick denied the allegations at an earlier hearing (see here).
Yesterday the case was continued for a notional diet on 21st October 2014. A notional diet is basically a hearing for legal arguments. What happens next is subject to what the Sheriff decides at the notional diet; a trial may or may not follow at a later date.
Raptor Persecution UK 
We’re forever being told that persecution is generally carried out by the older gamekeepers, yet here we have a 24 years old gamekeeper accused of such a crime. He can’t be that long out of gamekeeping school, yet here he is in court for an alleged persecution offence!
Methinks the SGA have telling porkies on that issue.
The SGA telling porkies??? – surely not!!!
What can you say, any comments would just be going over the same old well trodden ground.
[Ed: comment removed]
Does this mean that the gamekeepers lawyer has brought up legal issues in order to try and stop the case going further? Or am I way off?
[Ed: comment deleted. The offences are only alleged at this stage and the defendant has denied all involvement].
This amazes me ^^
Its simply delaying tactics……………..these cases are taken on summary proceedings which is the same level as road traffic offences, minor assaults etc. The longer these type of cases take to get to court and be heard the more the defence can highlight that the offence occurred a long time ago and the accused who usually has no previous convictions has been of good behaviour since the incident occurred.
There is also the hope the that the longer it takes the more likely prosecution witnesses may no longer be available, moved house, change their minds or even have died!
It is farcical to call it ‘summary justice’.
The way that the criminal justice system handles these type of cases and treats witnesses for the prosecution is a disgrace.
Life is like a shxt sandwich……..the more bread you have……the less shxt you have to eat.
[Ed: Most of this message deleted. Offences are only alleged at this stage].
‘Life is like a shxt sandwich……..the more bread you have……the less shxt you have to eat’
^^^^ So sad yet so true!