In November 1677, the judicial machinery of Argyll turned its attention toward Donald McIllmichall, a vagabond of very poor socioeconomic status residing in Inveraray. Following a confession recorded in October of that same year, Donald was brought before a court on November 15, 1677. The legal proceedings culminated in a verdict of guilty, as the jury concluded that he had participated in a witches' meeting, engaged in the consultation of evil spirits, and committed acts of theft.
The trial, documented under case reference C/JO/3247 and trial record T/JO/1883, resulted in a sentence of hanging for Donald. This resolution reflects the grave legal consequences faced by those identified as practitioners of prohibited supernatural acts within the seventeenth-century Scottish judicial system. His case remains a somber example of the intersections between social displacement and the persistent anxieties surrounding witchcraft during this period of early modern history.