On May 29, 1633, Katherene Grieve appeared before the judicial authorities in Orkney to face charges brought by the procurator fiscal. The proceedings, documented within the register of the Privy Council, centered on the accusation of participating in a witches' meeting. While historical records note that Katherene was a mother and worked in the service of John Brown, the absence of her husband’s name in the trial documents leaves his role in her life unrecorded. The particulars of her circumstances suggest a woman of some standing, as she does not appear to have been among the destitute population typically associated with such trials in the early modern period.
Following the formal indictment and the judicial inquiry, the court delivered a verdict of guilty. Katherene was subsequently sentenced to be branded, a punishment that served as a permanent physical mark of her conviction under the witchcraft statutes of the era. This case, preserved in the legal archives under reference C/EGD/1269 and T/LA/1004, reflects the rigorous application of 17th-century Scottish law and the jurisdictional reach of the Privy Council in overseeing matters of criminal justice within the Orkney islands.