Perth grandmother loses drug smuggling appeal in Japan
An Australian grandmother, convicted of drug trafficking, lost his objection in a Japanese court, although he argued that he was a victim of a detailed romanticism deception.
The 59 -year -old Perth woman Donna Nelson was sentenced to six years imprisonment in December 2024 for bringing two kilograms of methamphetamine to the country in January 2023.
Nelson was arrested at Narita International Airport, Japan near Tokyo after finding drugs hidden under a false bottom in a suitcase.
The community leader told the court that he was unaware of drugs and carried a suitcase for a man he hoped to marry.
The man named Kelly, whom he met online in 2020, told him that he had a Nigerian owner of a fashion business.
In 2023, he paid him money to travel to Japan through Laos, and asked him to collect samples of dress from an acquaintance in the Southeast Asian country.
He had to meet him in Japan, but he never came.
On Thursday, Tokyo Supreme Court judge TAKESHİ Irie rejected Nelson’s request for defense lawyers to be acquitted and a victim of a victim of romanticism without drug trafficking for snow.
The judge said Nelson was completely talented and that they had time to think and realize that there was a problem with the man’s request.
He has 14 days to decide whether he would object to the upper court, but one of Nelson’s daughters, Kristal Hilaire, said his mother did not decide.
In his statement to journalists outside the court, it was difficult to listen to the punishment. “I felt it was wrong … From time to time I didn’t really want to hear.”
“I was so hopeful that this would be the last. It is tiring to continue to fight against this fight. I just thought we could all rest and go home.”
One of the few people who visited Nelson in prison is the Academic Monique Whitty, the University of Monash, who saw Glass twice for several hours in June.
Professor, who has been investigating romantic fraud for about twenty years, made interviews with him as an expert evidence for appeal by Nelson’s legal team.
“Some of them were reserved for some (interviews) and he was really angry with the person who spoke to him and the whole situation he was deceived,” he told AAP on Thursday.
He continued: “There was a mixture of being miserable about what was done in his life and he was very disappointed with him. The victims always blame themselves.”
Professor said that Nelson’s case has all the distinguishing features of a textbook deception, where the crooks bombed the victims of the fraudsters and dragged them into risky situations.
“Everything I ask him, but at the same time the events that emerge match the same normal mode Operandi … (fraudsters) they take into account, wear and establish a reliable, hyper-personal relationship.” He said.
Dr. Whitty described the grandmother as a warrior who knew that he did not do anything wrong and asked for justice for himself.
With AP
