Agnes Cairnes, a servant residing in Kirkcudbright and employed by Thomas Milligan, found herself at the centre of a grave legal proceeding in the spring of 1659. The judicial process began with a trial in Dumfries on 2 April 1659, where she faced serious charges, including participation in a witches' meeting. During the legal proceedings, her status as an accomplice was further solidified by mentions in the trials of Jonet Miller and Helen Harris, both of whom identified Agnes as a fellow participant in their alleged activities.
The documentary trail of Agnes’s case reveals a complex struggle within the courtroom. While she initially entered a plea of not guilty, the record indicates that she eventually provided a confession, in which she claimed to have been a witch since childhood. However, this testimony was volatile; Agnes subsequently retracted her statement before later offering another recorded confession. Following the verdict of guilty delivered at her trial, she was sentenced to execution. On 5 April 1659, the sentence was carried out in the customary manner of the period: she was strangled and then burned.