Donna Nelson’s daughters anxious as Japanese court prepares to deliver verdict

Chiba: The daughters of a Perth woman facing 10 years in a Japanese prison for drug smuggling charges praying their beloved mother doesn’t have to spend another birthday without them as they prepare a Chiba court to decide her fate.

In less than 24 hours judges will decide whether 58-year-old West Australian Donna Nelson is guilty of smuggling two kilograms of methamphetamine hidden inside a suitcase when she arrived at Japan’s Narita Airport from Laos in January 2023.

Nelson has maintained she is the victim of a Nigerian love scam and she was asked to carry the suitcase from Laos to Japan by a man named Kelly who she had met online and was planning to marry.

Nelson’s eldest daughter Kristal Hilaire spent the past two weeks supporting her mum in court and during a prison visit, a day out from the verdict she said she was anxious.

“It’s definitely really emotionally taxing. I am struggling with sleeping and just a lot of thoughts running through my mind of what possible outcomes there could be and I just think how much harder it would be for mum,” she said.

Family members of Australian citizen Donna Nelson head to the Chiba District Court on the opening day of the trial.Credit: Eleanor Wilson

“When she would have realised what was in that suitcase, her whole world would have come tumbling down like she had put her future on the line to be with this person and she was excited to be meeting him and all the plans that she had for growing old with someone.”

Judges have been deliberating on Nelson’s case for a week.

If she is found not guilty and prosecutors choose to appeal, it’ll be up to the judges to decide whether she remains in custody – if she is let go, she’ll likely be handed over to immigration officials to be deported.

If she is convicted Japanese prosecutors have argued for a 10-year sentence and judges will decide how much of her two years behind bars already will be deducted from her sentence.

Donna Nelson remains in a Japanese prison and has been allowed only limited contact with the outside world.

“Her birthday will be in February so my hopes and prayers are that she doesn’t have to go another birthday without us,” Hilaire said.

“I need that when she looks up in the courtroom on the verdict day that she sees someone from home there.

“So as hard as it is, I know it’s so much harder for her and it’s important that she feels the strength that I can give to her just from seeing me there.”