An Australian grandmother detained in Japan for almost two years claims she’s the victim of an online romance scam ahead of the start of her long-awaited court case.
Donna Nelson’s daughters haven’t been able to see their mum in almost two years but that will change tomorrow, as they support her in a Japanese courtroom at the start of her drug smuggling trial.
“I’m excited to see her but I don’t know how she’s going to be in that state,” daughter Shontaye Kickett said.
“I don’t know how I’m going to feel seeing her for the first time.”
The 58-year-old from Western Australia was on the trip of a lifetime in January 2023 and about to meet her love interest.
She’d found him online via the dating site AfroIntroductions.
“She was excited to be meeting this person that she loves and cares about,” Nelson’s daughter Kristal Hilaire said.
But the former Federal Greens candidate never set eyes on him.
Instead, she was taken into custody the day she arrived in Tokyo after being caught by customs officers with almost two kilograms of meth concealed in her suitcase.
The grandmother says she didn’t know about the drugs and is the victim of Nigerian scammers.
“This wasn’t anything that was on our radar,” Hilaire said.
“If I had have heard about something like this happening to someone like mum, I would ask a lot more questions than we did.”
Donna Nelson’s lawyers has been working tirelessly over the past 22 months to prepare her case after the trial was put off in July.
Her lawyer says the grandmother is in good spirits and believes the truth will finally come out.
“We’re excited about seeing mum but we are becoming aware of what she’s up against with the system over there and their conviction rate,” Hilaire said.
“It’s just really hard at the moment.”
After her trial was delayed, authorities her granddaughter to see her briefly from behind glass, with her lawyers.
The little girl and her cousin will be joining the family in Japan this week.
“She’s an honest person, she loved her kids and her aboriginal culture, she would never be doing anything like this,” daughter Janelle Morgan said.
The trial a battle they hope will see their mum home in time for Christmas.
“I just hope and wish for mum to get a fair trial and I believe if she does, she’ll be coming home,” Hilaire said.
