‘She’s the victim’: Family speaks after Perth grandmother jailed for six years in Japan

The daughters of a Perth grandmother found guilty of smuggling drugs in Japan say their mother is a victim.

Donna Nelson, 58, was sentenced to six years in prison after she was found guilty of smuggling 2 kilograms of methamphetamine hidden inside a suitcase in 2022.

“She is the victim of a crime and not a criminal,” Nelson’s daughter Kristal Hilaire said outside court.

“She has always been against drugs.”

Nelson has always maintained her innocence, saying she was the victim of an online romance scam.

She said she received the suitcase from an acquaintance of a man she met on social media in 2020, and took it from Laos to Tokyo as instructed.

She was supposed to meet the man in Japan but he never showed up, according to prosecutors.

She was arrested at the airport and charged with violating Japan’s stimulants control and customs laws.

Since her arrest, the Indigenous community leader and former WA Greens candidate has been in custody for nearly two years.

“As she was leaving, the one thing she cryingly said to me was, ‘But my grandchildren’. I know it’s really hard for her thinking of her grandchildren growing up,” Hilaire said.

“She was duped and she did not know there were drugs in the bag her partner asked her to take to Japan.”

A panel of three professional judges and six members of the public found the mother-of-five guilty of drug smuggling.

The court found it “could presume the defendant had a doubt the suitcase had something illegal” inside.

The senior judge said almost 2 kilograms of meth was hidden in a sophisticated way and while Nelson was a “peripheral participant”, she “played an imperative and essential role” in the drug smuggling operation.

“I believe this is a very unreasonable decision,” Nelson’s defence lawyer Rie Nishida said.

“We need to talk with Donna but we will fight until the end, until she gets freedom.”

Justin Hayhurst, Australia’s ambassador to Japan, was also in court.

“The Australian government has been here throughout this trial to provide consular support to Ms Nelson and to her family, and we will continue to provide that support,” Hayhurst said.

The case also drew interest from Japanese citizens.

“I think they just punish carelessness too often and that’s the problem of this country, I believe,” one local said.

Earlier this morning, Nelson’s eldest daughter and her granddaughter visited her in Chiba Prison, hopeful of a positive outcome.

“Today I woke up with a sense of peace and that everything is going to be okay, I’m just really hopeful for the outcome we’re wanting,” Kristal said.

Defence lawyers requested a prison visit with Nelson this evening as they review the details of the verdict.

Her sentence was discounted due to time already spent behind bars, meaning she has another four years and 10 months to serve in jail.

She will also need to pay a $10,000 fine.

The 58-year-old has 14 days from tomorrow to lodge an appeal.