Grandmother tells court she was tricked by online lover

An Indigenous grandmother charged with drug trafficking in Japan has appeared in court in Tokyo to accuse an online lover of tricking her into smuggling methamphetamine into the country.

Donna Nelson told the court she did not know the suitcase she arrived with at Tokyo’s Narita Airport in January 2023 contained meth.

Ms Nelson, 58, from Perth, described how she started a relationship online with someone called Kelly, who said he was a fashion designer living in Japan.

Ms Nelson built a relationship over three years before planning a meeting g in Tokyo.

A divorced, single mother of five children, she testified in court that she felt comfortable and said: “At no point did I feel like Kelly was scamming me.”

The man then flew her business class from Perth to Singapore and then on to Laos, where he asked her to asked her to collect a suitcase, which he was wanted to sell at his shop in Japan.

“The only place I can get that suitcase is in Laos,” Kelly messaged Nelson, the court was told.

The trip started to unravel when Ms Nelson arrived in Laos and discovered there was no hotel booking.

She booked into the Crown Plaza but was still unsure before being told by message that a man would meet her with the suitcase and $1500.

She said the man arrived 15 minutes before she was leaving for the airport and didn’t notice anything strange about the suitcase. She placed her belongings in it and went to board her flight.

Prosecutors questioned her about an address in Japan the man had sent her, which confused a tearful Ms Nelson.