Cassandra Sainsbury's lawyer says she's 'traumatised' as new airport footage is released.

Three weeks after 22-year-old Cassandra Sainsbury was arrested at Bogota’s international airport in Colombia for carrying 18 different packages of cocaine, her newly-appointment lawyer has spoken publicly.

Speaking to ABC News, Cassie’s Colombian-based lawyer, Orlando Herra, said his client was “very traumatised” about being held in prison.

She was arrested when airport officials found 5.8 kilograms of cocaine hidden in packages inside her luggage.

The former personal trainer, from Adelaide, said she had bought the packages off a tour guide, thinking they contained headphones - which she intended to give friends and family as a gift from her travels.

Images obtained by 7 News show Cassie's last hours of freedom as she left her Bogota hotel with the luggage in which the drugs were found.

Herra said Cassie now faces an impossible choice: admit guilt in order to face less jail time, or plead not guilty.

If she's found guilty, she could face between eight and 20 years behind bars.

"But if we can get a deal with prosecutors, we could avoid drug trafficking charges and instead get complicity or something where she had a guilty act of not reviewing her luggage," he said.

"We could get a deal of a minimum of four years."

By admitting complicity, Cassie's lawyer says her case could be ruled in 90 days - instead of the year to a year-and-a-half it may take to bring her case to trial if she argues her innocence.

Pleading complicity could also mean Cassie could be eligible for parole and even "house arrest", which could be possibly completed in Australia.

Herra agreed that accepting punishment would be difficult for Cassie if she believes she is innocent.

"If one is convinced they are innocent, it's hard to say I accept this punishment, even if it's not that much," he said.

"But in terms of convenience, I would suggest we go for the shorter process and get a small punishment and learn the lesson not to trust strangers.

"With that, she can continue her life, especially if we take into account she is young and inexperienced in these things."

The revelations from Cassandra's lawyer come as a series of cryptic social media posts shared by Cassie in the lead-up to her ill-fated trip have been made public.

Listen to Mamamia Out Loud dissect the cracks in the story. (post continues after audio)

Cassie had made a series of international trips in the six months leading up to her arrest, with her travels documented on her Instagram account.

In one now-deleted post shared on January 10, Cassie wrote "50 days until everything changes".

Her 'countdown' ended in early March, and later the same month she shared posts of her travels to China and Los Angeles. It's believed she arrived on Bogota on April 3.

Just five days later - and four day before she was arrested - Cassie shared an image of a Colombian sunset with the caption, "Can't complain about an all expenses paid work trip, in which (sic) is mainly holiday very little work.

"It's the simple things that are the true beauty in the world."