Twist in case of Perth grandmother Donna Nelson who says she fell victim to a Nigerian ‘love scam’ before she was arrested in Japan and accused of drug smuggling
Hopes for the early release of an Australian grandmother languishing in a Japanese prison have been dashed. Her lawyers claim she is the victim of a love fraud.
Donna Nelson, a 57-year-old Perth woman, will spend at least another six months in a Tokyo prison after her trial for importing 1.9kg of meth into Japan was postponed indefinitely on Monday.
The postponement was announced just two days before her scheduled trial, with Ms Nelson having already spent 18 months behind bars in Chiba prison, where she claims she is kept in isolation for 23 hours a day.
It is understood the prosecution submitted evidence at the last minute on Monday to cause the latest delay, a tactic Ms Nelson’s legal team objected to.
Defense lawyers also questioned the ability of a court-provided translator to conduct the trial in both Japanese and English.
Members of Ms Nelson’s family said they only learned of the postponement when they were on a plane from Perth to Tokyo to attend the trial.
βAt this time, as a family we are still trying to come to terms with the news of the delay in the trial,β the family said in a statement.
“It is deeply upsetting for us as her family, but we cannot even imagine how devastating the news will be for our dear mother.”
Ms Nelson has already spent 18 months in a Tokyo prison and now faces the bleak prospect of waiting at least another six months for trial.
The prominent indigenous community leader has not spoken directly to her family since her arrest at Narita International Airport in January 2023 with methamphetamine allegedly hidden in a tampered suitcase.
The family believes Ms Nelson, who is also chair of a Western Australian Aboriginal health service, was coerced or tricked into carrying the suitcase, which was not part of her luggage, when she left Australia.
They said Ms Nelson had been speaking to a Nigerian man online for two years before she was arrested.
Ms Nelson had traveled to Japan to meet the Nigerian man known as ‘Kelly’, whom she met two years earlier through an online dating site called AfroIntroductions.
According to Nelson’s attorneys, her suitcase had a false outer liner, creating a hidden cavity in which approximately two pounds of methamphetamine was found.
‘Kelly’ claimed to own a luxury fashion brand.
Ms Nelson’s daughters told The Sydney Morning Herald the couple had been texting back and forth for months and had discussed a trip to Brazil.
The daughters also said the couple planned to get married in Nigeria, wearing traditional African attire.
They said the man gained Ms Nelson’s trust by sending her an image of a document he claimed was his Japanese residence card and offering to finance foreign travel for some of her daughters.
After successfully convincing Ms Nelson to visit him in Japan, ‘Kelly’ bought business class tickets to fly her to Tokyo via Singapore, Laos and Vietnam.
The family believes Ms Nelson met an associate of ‘Kelly’ during a three-day stop in Laos, where she came into possession of the bag that led to her arrest at the airport.
Prominent Western Australian woman Donna Nelson, 56, is alleged to have taken a suitcase containing 1.9kg of ‘illegal stimulants’ to Japan in January 2023
Donna Nelson (second from right) was the Greens candidate for the Western Australian seat of Pearce in the 2022 federal election
Ms Nelson’s lawyers will argue that the drugs were planted and that she became the victim of a Nigerian romance scam.
A new trial date has yet to be scheduled, but Ms Nelson’s lawyers have been told it will not be before January 2025, two years after her arrest.
Ms Nelson was the Greens candidate for the Western Australian seat of Pearce in the 2022 federal election.