Glasgow University law graduate Justine Siebenaler was told yesterday that she would no longer be able to pursue a career in law after she was found guilty of possessing Class A drugs at the ‘T in the Park’ festival last summer.
26 year-old Siebenaler – whose Linkedin profile (pictured below) says she believes in “maintaining a high level of integrity throughout my professional and private life” – had wept in the dock as a security officer described how she pulled two bags of drugs out of her underwear during a search at the entry point to the festival.
The security officer said: “They were acting very suspiciously. They wouldn’t look us in the eyes. I told her I had suspicions and that what I was going to do was get the police. I said to her the best thing to do was to tell me what she had. She pulled bags from her trousers, from her underwear, and showed me what she had in the bags. There were five pink tablets and a substance that looked like herbal cannabis. She was starting to get upset and was crying.
“I remember her sitting and crying and telling me she was a law student. She was sitting for 10 minutes asking me not to call the police.”
Another security officer who testified at the hearing added:
“We advised them the police would have to be called because they had refused a search. The female came forward and pulled something from her trousers. It was a bag of pink pills and also a bag of cannabis. She said she was studying to be a lawyer and stated this could go against her. She started getting very upset.”
A second charge against Siebenaler, of possessing cannabis, was dropped by the Crown.
Siebenaler’s solicitor, David Holmes, said his client had recently graduated in law but that career path would “now be closed to her” as a result of her conviction.
The presiding judge, Eric Brown, said Siebenaler’s lawyer future would be a matter for the relevant legal professional body to decide, before fining Siebenaler £200.
According to STV News, Siebenaler had previously tried unsuccessfully to have the case against her thrown out when witnesses failed to turn up to give evidence. At that stage, her solicitor had said: “Her family have been concerned about her health over the last few months. There has been an obvious impact on the accused.”