In September 1679, Christian Lockhart, a resident of Lauder in Haddington, became deeply embroiled in a series of legal proceedings concerning allegations of witchcraft. The records indicate that Christian, alongside Agnes Kelly and a servant identified as M. Anderson, faced significant external pressure to provide testimony against Elspeth Chousley. This push for denunciation occurred amidst a volatile situation in which Chousley had been subjected to extrajudicial beatings and an irregular arrest.
The legal entanglement surrounding Christian reached a definitive turning point on September 9, 1679. Despite the administrative activity surrounding the case—which appears in the records both in connection with Haddington and a subsequent circuit court held in Edinburgh—Christian did not attend the scheduled proceedings. Consequently, the court declared her a fugitive. While the specific nature of any physical coercion she may have faced remains unrecorded, her absence from the trial effectively concluded her standing in the official judicial record of the period.