Trial date set for WA grandmother detained in Japan over 2kg meth haul

An Indigenous community leader who once ran as a federal candidate for the Greens and is now fighting drug smuggling charges in Japan has had a trial date set.

Grandmother Donna Nelson has been kept in a cell inside Chiba Prison for 23 hours a day while waiting for a trial date after being arrested at Narita Airport in January 2023 with two kilograms of methamphetamine hidden in a suitcase.

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

Nelson’s lawyers will argue she didn’t know the drugs were in the suitcase.

Her family has said she was groomed for two years by a Nigerian love scammer, and was either forced or tricked into carrying the meth by the man she had fallen for, known only as “Kelly”.

Nelson first travelled to Japan to meet Kelly after the pair met through an online dating site called AfroIntroductions.

He claimed to be the owner of a couture brand and allegedly convinced Nelson to visit him, buying business-class tickets to fly her to Tokyo via Singapore, Laos and Vietnam.

Her family believes it was during her three-day stop in Laos that Nelson met with an associate of “Kelly” and came to be in possession of the bag that Japanese authorities later uncovered at the airport.

Nelson’s daughter Ashlee Charles said her family was really concerned about their mother’s mental and physical health and the conditions of her confinement since her arrest in early January 2023.

“Our Mum is a very social person, and it has been so hard to think of her isolated in a cell each day in a foreign country where she doesn’t even know the language,” she said.

“We are a really close family, and we haven’t been able to speak with her directly for 21 months.”

The family have been receiving regular updates about how she is going through her lawyers and consular staff.

“Our Mum shouldn’t be treated as a criminal when she is the victim of a romance scam herself. She believed she was finally meeting a man who she had been speaking with online for over 18 months.

“As her trial starts we want to make sure the world, particularly all Australians, are watching her case.”

Australian human rights lawyer Jennifer Robinson met with Nelson’s daughters Ashlee, Shontaye and Kristal last week as the family prepares for the upcoming trial.

“We are deeply concerned about how Donna Nelson’s case has been handled by the Japanese authorities,” she said.

“The conditions of her pre-trial detention, including being prohibited from communicating with her family, have caused Donna and her family great distress.”

Nelson has been detained since January 2023 after she was arrested for allegedly attempting to import drugs into Japan, having been the victim of a romance scam.

The trial starts November 18 and will run for two weeks. A judgment is expected in December. Nelson is being represented at the trial by Japanese lawyer Rie Nishida.

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