In April 1568, the legal records of Forfarshire mark the formal accusation of Jonet Gardyn, a resident of Arbroath and St Vigeans. At this time, the judicial mechanisms surrounding the crime of witchcraft in Scotland were beginning to consolidate, following the legislative framework established by the Witchcraft Act of 1563. Jonet was drawn into this legal machinery under case reference C/LA/3381, a process that necessitated the involvement of local authorities concerned with the maintenance of spiritual and social order within the parish.
Following the initial accusation, Jonet was subjected to the formal process of a trial, recorded under reference T/LA/2249. The records provide limited detail regarding the specific charges brought against her or the outcome of the proceedings; however, her appearance before the court reflects the broader patterns of communal vigilance characteristic of the late sixteenth century. Through these documents, Jonet remains a figure defined by the brief, stark entries of the Justiciary court records, serving as a reminder of the thousands of individuals whose lives were intersected by the rigorous and often opaque judicial investigations of early modern Scotland.