The 59-year-old will be forced to serve a six-year drug trafficking sentence after a Japanese court rejected her appeal.
The 59-year-old will be forced to serve a six-year drug trafficking sentence after a Japanese court rejected her appeal.
By Rebecca Peppiatt and Jamie Freestone
September 25, 2025 — 1.27pm
A Perth grandmother has lost her appeal to overturn a six-year drug trafficking sentence after a Japanese court on Thursday announced its findings in the 59-year-old’s last bid for freedom.
Donna Nelson was arrested at Narita Airport, 50 kilometres west of Tokyo, in January 2023 after customs officials found about two kilograms of methamphetamine in a suitcase she was carrying.
Nelson has maintained she was the victim of a Nigerian scam and that her online lover “Kelly” had arranged for her to bring the suitcase from Laos because he told her he was a fashion designer in Japan, and he wanted to sell the case in one of his shops.
While finding her guilty on drug trafficking charges last December, the Japanese judge did concede she had been taken advantage of.
She was called a ‘blind mule’.
Masakazu Kamakura said the suitcase had a sophisticated hidden pocket that stashed the drugs and that Nelson had played a peripheral but an “imperative and essential role” in the operation.
“The court could presume the defendant had a doubt the suitcase had something illegal,” Kamakura said.
“The strangeness of the request was not resolved, and the doubt something illegal could be inside the suitcase was not resolved.”
Nelson’s family told 9 News Perth earlier this week that the grandmother was “hopeful” ahead of Thursday’s decision.
“She’s trusting in her faith, and she’s hoping that God will, you know, do what’s right and send her home,” they said.
“And she doesn’t want to try and jinx that sort of feeling by thinking about anything other than an acquittal.”
In her testimony to the Chiba District Court last year, Nelson broke down as she described how she had started online dating after her divorce and she sparked a relationship with Kelly.
The pair communicated for more than two years before making plans to meet in Tokyo.
“At no point did I feel like Kelly was scamming me,” Nelson testified.
The Nigerian man flew her business class from Perth to Singapore and then on to Laos, where he allegedly asked her to collect the suitcase.
But when she arrived in Laos, there was no booking for her at the hotel. The man suggested she pay for a room at the Crown Plaza. Nelson sent a message saying she was thinking about going home and was worried.
“Please wait. The guy is at work. He will come with $1500 as soon as he finishes,” a message to her read.
The court heard Nelson only received the suitcase from Kelly’s “business manager” 15 minutes before checking out to fly to Japan.
There were clothing samples inside, but she didn’t notice anything strange about the case and placed her belongings in it before heading for her flight to Tokyo.
Nelson’s two daughters and two grandchildren travelled to Chiba for the outcome today, previously telling 9 News Perth that losing the appeal would trigger a request to the Australian government for a prisoner transfer so that the 59-year-old could serve out her sentence on home soil.
Rebecca Peppiatt – is a journalist with WAtoday, specialising in crime and courts.Connect via email.
Jamie Freestone is a senior reporter at 9 News Perth.
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