An Australian on trial for drugs in Japan says she’s the victim of a romance scam

CHIBA, Japan (AP) — An Australian accused of smuggling amphetamines in a suitcase appeared in a Japanese court on Monday nearly two years after her arrest, saying she is innocent and that she was tricked into carrying them as part of an online romance scam.

Donna Nelson from Perth, Australia, was arrested at Japan’s Narita International Airport just outside Tokyo when customs officials found about 2 kilograms (4.4 pounds) of stimulants, or phenylaminopropane, hidden in a double-bottom suitcase she was carrying.

Nelson, 58, said she received the suitcase from an acquaintance of a man she met on social media in 2020, and brought it from Laos to Tokyo as instructed. She was supposed to meet up with the man in Japan but he never showed up, according to prosecutors.

She was arrested on the spot and later charged with violating the stimulants control and customs laws. She has been in custody for nearly two years.

Monday’s trial comes just weeks after the recent acquittal of an 88-year-old former boxer, Iwao Hakamada, who was on death row for about half a century on wrongful murder convictions. That case rekindled concerns about Japan’s largely closed-door investigation processes and lengthy trials.

Nelson, in a brief statement at the Chiba District Court near Tokyo, said she did not know the drugs were hidden in the suitcase and that she was carrying them for a man she thought she loved. The man told her he was the Nigerian owner of a fashion business and paid for her trip to Japan via Laos, her lawyers said.

Prosecutors acknowledged the case is linked to a romance scam but accused Nelson of smuggling the drugs, claiming she knew the contents of the suitcase.

A verdict is expected on Dec. 4.

Nelson entered the courtroom escorted by a pair of uniformed guards who removed her handcuffs and a rope around her waist as she took a seat to stand trial. She repeatedly looked toward her daughters who were seated in the audience.

It was an emotional moment for her and her family to see each other for the first time since her arrest.

One of Nelson’s daughters, Kristal Hilaire, said she wants the court to know her mother is a good person.

“She thought she was coming to Japan for her love story. She didn’t have any other intentions other than that. And that’s what we need everyone to know and hear at the court this week,” Hilaire said.

The daughter added that the family is “just trying to be strong because when mom locks her eyes with us, I want her to feel our strength and that she will feed off that.”

Nelson’s lawyer Rie Nishida said that customs officials’ limited English-language ability might have led to mistranslations and the accusation that Nelson knew what she was carrying.

In Monday’s trial, a customs official testified that his colleague was mainly asking questions to Nelson in English but ended up calling an interpreter and what she had said earlier was only summed up in Japanese during an interview that was not recorded.

Nishida asked the judges and a jury panel of citizens to carefully listen to Nelson, who she said was finally given a capable court interpreter, to make a fair judgement.

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Associated Press video journalist Mayuko Ono contributed to this report.