A WOMAN charged with urinating on the sand dunes on Donald Trump’s golf links at Menie on the Aberdeenshire coast is challenging a formal warning from the public prosecutor.
Rohan Beyts, a 62-year-old former social worker, was charged by police following a complaint from the would-be US president’s staff.
They filmed her allegedly answering the call of nature at the controversial golf resort on 11 April.
Trump, a billionaire property tycoon likely to be the Republican presidential candidate, is due to jet in to Scotland at the end of this week.
He is scheduled to visit Aberdeenshire and to attend the official opening of his other golf resort at Turnberry in South Ayrshire.
The Procurator Fiscal in Aberdeen has decided not to prosecute Beyts but to issue her with an official warning instead.
Though this is not a conviction, it stays on the Scottish criminal history recording system for two years, and can influence future prosecutions.
In a letter on 24 May, the fiscal told her that there was sufficient evidence to take her to court for allegedly breaching section 47 of the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 by urinating so as “to cause or to be likely to cause annoyance to another person”.
But she wouldn’t be taken to court “in all the circumstances of the present case”, the letter said. “You should note that if a similar report against you is submitted to me in the future, and there is sufficient evidence in law to justify my bringing you before the court, you may well be prosecuted.”
The fiscal added: “If you wish to challenge this warning and wish to be tried in a criminal court for the offence, you may refuse this warning.”
Beyts has taken legal advice and has now decided that she will reject the warning.
“I remain convinced that I did nothing wrong but the incident has left me feeling tainted and worried that if I am caught short in similar circumstances there maybe someone hiding in the bushes filming me,” she told the Sunday Herald.
“I thought hard about taking up further time of the hard-pressed legal system but feel strongly that this case should not have been brought forward in the first place.”
She was concerned that she would have to declare the warning to future employers if she wanted to work with vulnerable people or children.
Beyts, a keen walker, climber and swimmer, said she had never previously been charged with any offence.
She is an active environmentalist, and has protested against Trump’s golf course in the past.
She said she’d had to curtail her walking because she’d become “ultra conscious that I may need a pee and that I may be observed and reported.”
She complained that she’d had no opportunity to defend herself.
She was backed by the walkers’ group, Ramblers Scotland. “We are astonished that this case has led to an official warning,” said the group’s campaigns manager, Helen Todd.
“It’s perfectly natural that walkers and others enjoying outdoor recreation will sometimes need to find a quiet spot to go to the toilet, and the Scottish Outdoor Access Code gives clear guidance on how to do this responsibly.”
Todd added: “Even golfers get caught short occasionally while playing a round, but it’s a great concern that a walker has been targeted in this way.”
The Green MSP and justice spokesperson, John Finnie, called on the Procurator Fiscal to withdraw the warning.
“I cannot see how the public interest is in any way served by issuing this warning letter,” he said.
“In this case the public interest would have been best served by placing the police report in the recycling bin.”
Trump’s Scottish spokeswoman, Sarah Malone said: “Rohan Beyts is a known opponent of the project and this was a deliberately offensive act that took place in full view of golfers and guests, and only a few feet from the clubhouse.”
Malone previously described the alleged offence as a “disgusting and shameful act”.
The Crown Office declined to comment.
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