Donna Nelson drug smuggling trial: WA grandmother waves to family in Japanese court

A Perth grandmother accused of drug smuggling has blown kisses to her daughters and grandchildren through tears on the first day of her trial in a Japanese court.

Prominent Indigenous leader Donna Nelson, 58, was arrested in January last year after landing at Narita International Airport with allegedly 2kg of methamphetamine in her luggage.

WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Family’s heartfelt plea as beloved Perth grandmother goes on trial in Japan.

On Monday, after an almost two-year wait for a trial, Nelson was led into a courtroom in Chiba — 40km east of Tokyo — flanked by two armed guards and handcuffed to a restraint around her waist.

“I had no knowledge that there was methamphetamine in the luggage,” she told the court.

“I was deceived by Kelly, a man who I was considering a marriage partnership with,” she said.

The grandmother’s defence team will argue Nelson had no idea the drugs were in her bag and that she was a victim of a criminal gang after being groomed for two years in an online romance scam.

Her lawyers argued her trip to Japan was about visiting Kelly and the boutique retail business he claimed to run in Japan. If convicted, Nelson faces up to 20 years behind bars.

As she sat in the dock, she blew kisses between tears to her daughters and grandchildren who were sitting in the gallery.

Nelson has five adult daughters who are attending the trial. For four of her daughters, the trial is the first time they have seen Nelson in almost two years.

But they are banned from communicating with her in the courtroom.

The daughters have previously spoken about how they were desperately waiting for the moment they could see their mum to show her their love.

After seeing their mum in court on Monday, daughter Janelle Morgan said: “It was amazing really. . . (it) made the long wait worth it to see her.”

Earlier, another of Nelson’s daughters, Kristal Hilaire, left, said the family was “just trying to be strong”.

“Because when mum locks eyes with us, I want her to feel our strength and that she’ll feed off that,” she said.

WA Premier Roger Cook said he hoped Nelson received a “just outcome”.

“I know that DFAT are working with Donna Nelson’s family to make sure she has support and representation, and I wish her all the very best for the trial,” he said.

Nelson’s family and her legal team have raised concerns about her treatment in Japan.

“She has now spent almost two years in what is effectively prolonged solitary confinement in a Japanese prison, where she is subjected to a communication ban,” high-profile human rights lawyer Jennifer Robinson said.

“She can’t talk to her family, she’s not allowed to associate with other prisoners, and she is kept in her cell 23 hours a day.”