In the spring of 1706, Helen Kirkpatrick, a 40-year-old resident of Kirkbride in Dumfries, found herself at the center of a legal proceeding that would irrevocably alter her standing in the community. The conflict began earlier that year, on January 9, with a series of heated denunciations involving mutual accusations of slander between Helen and another party. These initial disputes eventually escalated into the formal case C/JO/2887, bringing the local parish into the sphere of judicial scrutiny. During the investigation, Helen’s daughter, Janet Hair—who was of sufficient age to be employed in domestic service—was brought forward for questioning regarding her mother’s conduct.
The subsequent resolution of the matter, recorded in the Dumfries presbytery book, diverged from the formal criminal trials often associated with the era. There is no evidence of a conventional trial; instead, the process relied upon the interrogation of witnesses and the disputing parties. Upon review, the bailie of regality delivered a verdict of guilty and issued a sentence of banishment. Rather than facing the capital punishment that characterized many witch trials of the period, Helen was ordered to be "put out of bounds," effectively forcing her to leave the parish and permanently severing her ties to her home in Kirkbride.