THE head of an allotment group may have suffered a miscarriage of justice after being found guilty of assaulting a neighbour as their two dogs fought, the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission has said.
A court heard allegations that Carol Kirk had struck Caroline McHale multiple times on the back of her hand "in a red faced temper" after her neighbour's dog had a "set to" with her own dog.
But the then 57 year-old chairwoman of the Stirling Allotment Association who recorded the attack on a dictaphone she had in her pocket said she struck Ms McHale's Hungarian vizsla, Viktor, instead.
The Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission has referred the case to the High Court as a possible miscarriage of justice.
Ms Kirk, now 59, said she had "no option" but to strike the dog when it attacked her collie, Charlie.
But Ms Kirk from Cambusbarron, Stirlingshire who appeared on trial at Stirling Justice of the Peace in May, 2015 was found guilty and admonished.
The SCCRC has said that a miscarriage of justice may have occurred in that "the court misdirected itself in assessing the evidence and concluding that [Ms Kirk] intended to assault the complainer.
Her husband and co-accused, Thomas Kirk, 71, was charged with behaving in a threatening and abusive manner towards Ms McHale on the same date but it was dropped by the Crown during the trial.
The court originally heard Ms Kirk was in a communal garden area near Stirling with her dog when Ms McHale opened the back gate to her garden and her dog "scooted" past her towards them.
Ms McHale - who claimed to have had issues with the Kirks - said the two animals had a "snarl and a snap".
The court heard Ms Kirk had bought a dictaphone to record allotment association meetings and had left it running her in pocket as she planned to dictate a grocery shopping list.
The audio recording was played in court which heard dogs barking and Ms Kirk shout "get that f***ing thing away" and "you're mad, you're absolutely mad" to Ms McHale and the sound of striking.
Ms Kirk was then heard using her mobile phone to call the police.
During the original hearing, Greg Cunningham, defending, suggested Ms McHale's dog had a "reputation" for being aggressive which she denied.
Ms Kirk said Ms McHale's dog had been aggressive on "numerous occasions" and she called the dog warden in 2013.
Describing the incident, she said: "It was biting my dog. It was taking chunks out of his throat. I hit the dog with my lead.
"I was hitting him with the lead to break the aggression, to try and break the moment. "
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