An Australian woman is set to go on trial on drug smuggling charges after almost two years in a foreign jail, with her family holding out hope authorities will believe she is the innocent victim of a complex love scam. Her five daughters are flying from Perth to Japan for the trial, desperate to bring her home.
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00:00What's faster, you or Nan?
00:05You were faster.
00:06Crystal Hilaire is getting on a plane to Japan with her three-year-old daughter.
00:12But it's no holiday.
00:13Instead, she and her four sisters are going there with one mission.
00:17Bringing their mother home.
00:19It's been really hard.
00:20I think the only way we can really get by is just focusing on the fact that each day
00:25that passes is another day that we're closer to having her home.
00:29Donna Nelson was arrested in January last year at Narita International Airport.
00:34Authorities allege the Perth woman tried to bring almost two kilograms of methamphetamine
00:38into the country.
00:40Miss Nelson has been held in Chiba prison ever since, prohibited from speaking to anyone
00:44on the outside other than her lawyer.
00:48Her family do not believe their mother, who was married to a police officer, would knowingly
00:52carry drugs.
00:54Mum has always been totally anti-drugs.
00:58Growing up, Dad was the first Aboriginal detective in Western Australia.
01:04My grandfather was the first Aboriginal policeman in Western Australia.
01:08It was just a known, like, drugs is not a part of our family.
01:11It's not who we are.
01:13It's not our culture.
01:14That's how Mum and Dad both raised us.
01:17They believe she fell victim to an elaborate romance scam perpetrated by this man, whose
01:21face we can't show you because it may prejudice the trial.
01:25I think he sold this beautiful, big, blended family image with her and that she would not
01:33have to be alone anymore.
01:36They'd been talking for 18 months when he offered her an all-expenses paid flight to
01:40Japan so they could finally meet.
01:42But there was a catch.
01:43He said she had to transit through Laos because he couldn't get her a direct flight.
01:48What happened next is expected to come out at her trial.
01:51But her daughters believe she was tricked into taking a bag from a man who was part
01:55of a sophisticated criminal network.
01:58High-profile Australian lawyer Jennifer Robinson, who represented Julian Assange, is advocating
02:03for Ms Nelson.
02:04The conviction rate in criminal cases in Japan is 99%.
02:09That is very problematic when we think about the presumption of innocence and raises serious
02:13concerns about due process.
02:15She's urged the Australian government to raise Ms Nelson's case at the highest levels.
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