The Perth grandmother who alleges she was tricked into trafficking drugs into Japan says she will never forgive herself. Donna Nelson alleges an online love interest convinced her he needed the bag for his business. But she told her criminal trial she felt guilty after learning what was truly inside.
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00Two years since her detention, Donna Nelson's daughters were given the chance to see their
00:07mum in prison.
00:08It was really good.
00:09We felt bad leaving because it just feels like 20 minutes isn't long enough to talk
00:17to her after two years.
00:18Donna Nelson was arrested at Tokyo's Narita Airport in January last year after two kilograms
00:24of methamphetamine were found hidden in a false bottom of her bag.
00:28She picked up the trouble case in Laos, telling the court her online romance interest, Kelly,
00:33needed it as a sample for his business.
00:35If it was suitable, he'd get a container load, she explained.
00:39During their two-year online romance, Ms Nelson sent Kelly an article warning of romance scams.
00:44As an Aboriginal woman, Donna Nelson said she faced daily discrimination and did not
00:49want to stereotype Kelly, who was Nigerian.
00:52Kelly never asked for money, that's the difference, she explained.
00:56She said she sent him the link thinking it would be funny.
00:59On her arrival, Donna Nelson did not declare that she was carrying someone else's items.
01:05She told the court she regarded the trouble case as her own because she was hoping to
01:09marry Kelly.
01:10It was only after her bag was picked up for x-ray and the warnings of drug smuggling were
01:15spelt out to her that she admitted the bag was not hers.
01:20She said she never saw anything strange and believed and trusted him.
01:24Donna Nelson also said she found drugs abhorrent and hated herself.
01:28My children and grandchildren, they are the innocent victims in this, she told the court.
01:33She said she would never be able to forgive herself for the heartache they had endured
01:37for 22 months.
01:39Evidence for the trial has now wrapped up.
01:41She mentioned that she thought it went well, yeah, yeah, and we thought it went well too.
01:47So when we were saying goodbye, we said hopefully we'll be seeing you soon.
01:51The verdict will be delivered early December.
01:54For more information, visit www.FEMA.gov