Aussie grandmother found guilty of importing drugs into Japan
Australian grandmother Donna Nelson has been found guilty of importing two kilograms of methamphetamine into Japan, despite her claims that she was the victim of an online scam.
The 58-year-old was convicted of the crime by a panel of three professional judges and six members of the public in a decision delivered in Chiba, Tokyo on Wednesday.
She has been sentenced to six years in jail, with the 430 days she has already served to be deducted from her time behind bars and she was also fined $10,400.
Nelson and her team have two weeks to launch their likely appeal.
“I believe this is a very unreasonable decision. We need to talk with Donna but we will fight until the end, until she gets freedom,” her lawyer Rie Nishida said outside the court.
“She’s devastated but she’s a strong woman so we will discuss and prepare for the next fight.”
Nelson, a prominent Indigenous leader, has maintained her innocence and told the court last month she had no idea the drugs had been hidden in her luggage by a man she thought was her boyfriend.
She picked up the travel bag during a three-stop in Laos and claimed she had been tricked into believing it was a sample case he needed for his fashion business in Japan.
Nelson started her online romance in 2020, and after several failed attempts to meet in person, her love interest bought her a flight ticket to Japan, which included the Laos stop where an acquaintance of his delivered the bag.
She was supposed to meet up with the man in Japan but he never showed, according to prosecutors.
Nelson was arrested at Tokyo's Narita Airport in January 2023, and later charged with violating the stimulants control and customs laws.
Prosecutors acknowledged the case is linked to a romance scam but accused Nelson of smuggling the drugs, claiming she knew the contents of the suitcase.
Nelson's daughters hoped the years of messages between Nelson and the romance scammer would show the court she had no idea about the meth, but the court ruled that she ignored too many red flags about the man she had met online and she should've been suspicious enough to not carry the suitcase for him.
The judges said they accepted she was deceived and sympathised with her, so she received a lighter sentence than others given for the same offence.
Prosecutors in Japan had initially asked for her to be thrown in jail for 20 years and fined $31,000 if found guilty.
Outside court, Nelson's daughter Kristal Hilaire said six years in a Japanese prison away from home and family was in no way a “lenient” sentence.
Her loved ones have also launched a GoFundMe to “free our mum and bring her home, where (she) belongs”.
They stated that their “beloved” mother “was duped by her partner into carrying a bag into Japan which contained drugs”.
“Our Mum had no knowledge of this, and we maintain that she is a victim of a crime and not a criminal,” they continued.
Image: 7News