The jailing of an Australian woman in Japan is “really distressing” for her family, the federal government has acknowledged as it committed to doing all it could to help her.
The Australian federal health minister, Mark Butler, made the promise a day after Donna Nelson was sentenced to six years for smuggling methamphetamine into Tokyo in January 2023, despite her claims she had been the victim of an online romance scam.
Her legal team has indicated they plan to appeal, noting that the two years she has already served will count towards her overall sentence.
Nelson, from Perth, was found guilty of smuggling 2kg of the drug concealed beneath a false bottom in her suitcase when she arrived at Narita airport near Tokyo from Laos in January 2023.
Prosecutors had demanded a 10-year sentence and a $30,000 fine.
The premier of Western Australia, Roger Cook, expressing hope for a potential appeal.
“That must come as a huge kick in the guts to that family and I know Donna and her family would be hurting today,” he told reporters on Thursday.
Cook said the Japanese justice system had to be respected.
“She’s been found guilty of a crime and she’s been sentenced and now she has avenues of appeal,” he said.
“In due course, I hope we may see a situation where Donna Nelson is brought home sooner rather than later.”
The 58-year-old claimed she did not know the drugs had been hidden inside the suitcase, which she said had been given to her by the acquaintance of a second man who she met online in 2020 and was planning to marry.
Nelson said she had been instructed to take the suitcase to Japan and give it to the man she believed to be her online lover. The man, whom Nelson named only as “Kelly”, had told her he was the Nigerian owner of a fashion business. He reportedly paid for her flight to Japan but was not at Narita airport when she arrived.
The pair had reportedly sent each other numerous text messages and spoken multiple times on video chats during their online “romance”.
Prosecutors acknowledged the case was linked to an online romance scam, but insisted Nelson knew what was inside the suitcase when she left Laos.
When she arrived in Japan, Nelson did not declare the bag as belonging to someone else, and wrote that she was in the country on business.
“If she had nothing to hide, why didn’t she just tell the truth, and why didn’t she tell customs that she was going to see her fiance?” prosecutor Ogata told the court, according to the ABC.
Butler said on Thursday the Australian government would continue to provide support to the Indigenous woman and her family as they decided on their next steps.
“This will obviously be a really distressing result for Ms Nelson and for her family and friends,” Butler told the ABC on Thursday.
“Our government, through the usual consular pathways, has been providing support to Ms Nelson and the usual sort of consular assistance that you’d expect in a case like this.”
Nelson’s family members, some of whom attended the trial, said they were disappointed and devastated by the verdict.
They maintain she was “duped” and have described her as the victim of a crime, not a criminal.
“We will never stop fighting for our mum,” her family said in a statement.
“And we will keep fighting until we can bring her home.”
Her daughters have repeatedly protested her innocence and have been present at Chiba district court, east of Tokyo, during her trial.
One of Nelson’s daughters, Kristal Hilaire, told the court her mother was “a good person” during a hearing last month – the first time Hilaire and her sister had seen their mother since her arrest almost two years ago.
“She thought she was coming to Japan for her love story,” Hilaire said. “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.”
Nelson’s lawyer, Rie Nishida, claimed that the poor English-language ability of customs officials at Narita might have led to mistranslations and the allegation that Nelson knew she was carrying an illegal substance.
Nelson attended court escorted by uniformed guards, who removed her handcuffs and a rope around her waist as she took her seat.
Her case has highlighted the slow pace of justice in Japan, where suspects can be detained for long periods without charge and face lengthy trials before being convicted or freed.
