A suspected poacher dodged a jail sentence after he killed a duck with a stone.
Donald Dyker claimed that he threw the stone to frighten away other feathered friends which were attacking an injured mallard.
But his excuse was not believed by Sheriff Margaret Neilson who described the 52-year-old’s record of previous convictions as “terrible”.
Dyker’s previous crimes included several involving wildlife and the Sheriff said they were “possibly poaching”.
However, after hearing from defence solicitor Rory Gowans who conceded that the duck offence was “unsavoury”, the Sheriff decided not to imprison Dyker.
Instead she ordered him to carry out 150 hours of unpaid community work, placed him under social work supervision for a year and instructed him to have alcohol treatment.
Mr Gowans said: “He has for a number of years experienced alcohol difficulties. But he has no outstanding cases although he has a terrible record.
“He does appear ready to embark on some programme to help him desist from drinking and he has never breached a community payback order in the past.”
Sentence had been deferred on Dyker of Stratton Road, Inverness, until yesterday at Inverness Sheriff Court for a background report.
Dyker admitted culpably and recklessly killing the bird and then taking it away in his rucksack on January 8 last year in the River Ness by throwing a stone and striking it.
At a previous hearing, Mr Gowans colleague, Clare Russell told the court: “He had taken some alcohol beforehand and saw what he believed to be an injured duck being attacked by other ducks. He made the foolish decision to throw a stone.”
Sheriff Neilson interrupted, asking: “So he thought that was a humane thing to do?”
Miss Russell replied: “He says it was an attempt to scare the other ducks away. But the stone hit the injured duck.”
Sheriff Neilson again interrupted: “So it was coincidental that he struck the duck, killed it and took it?”
Miss Russell answered: “He thought it was inappropriate to leave the dead duck in the river.”
Fiscal depute David Morton told the court that water bailiffs on patrol on the river saw Dyker acting suspiciously on the north bank of the river and kept watch.
“They observed him pick up a large stone and throw it into the river. It struck a mallard, it was stunned and killed. He then picked it up by the neck, put it in his backpack, and walked away with it.”
