Australian Donna Nelson found guilty of importing meth into Japan

ABC NEWS (Australia)

A court in Japan has found Australian grandmother Donna Nelson guilty of importing two kilograms of methamphetamine last year. She's been sentenced to six years jail minus time already served.

Transcript

00:00This will be absolutely devastating news for the family of Donna Nelson.

00:06Her daughter, Crystal Hilaire, who stayed in Japan throughout the trial, spoke to the

00:11media on the way in before the verdict was delivered.

00:13They were confident that the judge would see that she was the innocent victim of a love

00:19scam and certainly her lawyers had expressed that confidence as well.

00:23But ultimately what the judge has ruled is that there were too many doubts that Donna

00:29Nelson should have picked up on about this whole love interest that she'd developed and

00:33the idea of picking up a bag for an essential stranger.

00:37There were too many doubts that she overlooked and therefore she was guilty of this crime.

00:43The judge has sentenced her to six years jail.

00:46Now 430 days has already been served so that will be taken off the sentence there and she's

00:51been fined $10,000.

00:53So just to backtrack about how we got here, Donna Nelson had sparked up an online romance

00:58with a man named Kelly and she hadn't met this man but the two interacted for two years

01:03via text messaging, through video chats as well.

01:06They had tried to meet up on multiple occasions but eventually Kelly bought her tickets to

01:10Japan but with a three day stopover in Laos.

01:14When she was there she picked up a bag and hidden in that bag were the two kilograms

01:19of methamphetamine that she took to Japan.

01:22Now she had long argued that she was tricked into taking this bag, believing it was a suitcase

01:27that he needed for his fashion business but as I mentioned from the judge's perspective,

01:33just too many red flags.

01:34She should have had doubts that the story that Kelly was telling her simply did not

01:39add up.

01:40For example, when she meets an associate of Kelly in Laos, why didn't the associate take

01:46the bag to Japan?

01:47When she receives the bag it's a very ordinary looking bag, it doesn't look special and when

01:51she arrives in Japan it was broken.

01:54We also know for instance from the prosecution that she filled out her arrival card incorrectly

01:58saying she wasn't taking anyone else's bags or suitcases, that everything was her own.

02:04So the prosecution long argued that she was not a reliable witness.

02:08Fundamentally that's what has caught her here.

02:10It's not necessarily that they've definitely proven that she intended to take the drugs.

02:15In fact, the court here acknowledged she was a victim of Kelly as well but there were just

02:20too many warning signals that she overlooked and she must have had doubts.

02:24That's what the court is saying.

02:25She must have known something was potentially wrong and illegal with that suitcase she picked

02:30up.

02:31And James, under the Japanese system is there any likelihood she'll get parole before the

02:36six years and what happens next?

02:42What happens next is that the lawyers have said that they will fight, they will definitely

02:46fight this and they said that right from the start, that regardless of today's outcome

02:50if she was found guilty that they thought she was an innocent person and they would

02:54continue to fight.

02:56We've also just heard from, there's a statement from the family of Donna Nelson saying they

03:01are disappointed and devastated by the court's verdict and that they maintain that their

03:07mum was the victim of a romance scam.

03:11So there's no chance of early parole that we heard of in the court case just before.

03:16But as I mentioned, she has already served 430 days so it is more like four years from

03:20today rather than the full six years.

03:22The Australian Embassy did speak to the media briefly saying they're providing consular

03:27assistance to Ms Nelson and the family.

03:29So now we've just got to hear about when this appeal will actually be filed.

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