It has been over a year since six-year-old Joshlin Smith disappeared outside her home in Saldanha Bay in the Western Cape. Her case gripped the nation, and despite serious efforts to find her, she is still not found.
Earlier this month, we told you about the start of the trial of the three accused: Joshlin’s mother, Kelly Smith, her boyfriend, Jacquen Appollis and their friend, Steveno van Rhyn. The trio face charges of human trafficking and kidnapping. Now in its third week, the trial is being held at the Western Cape High Court sitting in the Saldanha Bay Multi-Purpose Centre.
With each day, shocking new details are revealed. In case you have missed it, here are some of the biggest revelations so far:
1. A mother more concerned about her boyfriend than her missing child
During the first week of the trial, the court heard from Constable Yanga Gongotha, who, alongside his colleague and Smith, searched for Joslin on the day she went missing. Golgotha told the court that, surprisingly, during the frantic search, she was more concerned about the whereabouts of her boyfriend and not the child, and eventually, when they arrived at her boyfriend’s house, she was relieved that she had found him.
“She transformed from a mother who had recently lost her child to someone who was overjoyed to see her partner. The first question she asked Appollis was whether he had refilled the gas cylinder, not about her child,” Gongotha told the court on the first day of the trial.
2. Smith once said she was willing to sell her children for R20 000 each
A local evangelist, Nico Steven Coetzee, who first met Smith at a funeral in 2016, revealed that in August 2023, Smith told him that she was willing to sell her children for R20 000 each or, shockingly, even for as little as R5000. Coetzee shares with the court that when he asked where she would take the children, she did not respond. He highlights that she did inform him she was going to “have her children taken away”.
Coetzee claims Smith told him, “Next year, January and February (2024), you’ll see with your own eyes what will happen in Middelpos and Diazville. It will be like a movie scene because vehicles, pedestrians and people are going to look for her. But they will not find her because I’m going to send her far away”.
On 12 March, the 10th state witness Joshlin’s grade 1 teacher, Edna Maart, told the court that Smith confided in her about a call she received from a Nigerian man.
According to Maart, Smith claimed that the caller told her Joshlin was in a container being shipped to West Africa. “Her words to me were, ‘Juffrou, I want to tell you something confidential.’”
Maart claims to have been told this information on 23 February 2024, a few days after Joshlin went missing. She reveals that she was helping in the search for the girl on behalf of her school.
3. A sangoma wanted Joshlin for her blue-green eyes and skin
Lourentia Lombaard began testifying to the court last Thursday. Lombaard was initially the fourth accused in the case but because of lack of evidence, she has turned to be a state witness.
Over three days of testifying, Lombaard revealed to the court the sangoma who brought the child wanted her specifically for her light skin and eye colour. Days after the six-year-old went missing, Lombaard visited Smith’s home, where Smith revealed that the buyer had chosen Joshlin for her fair complexion and striking eyes. Lombaard also told the court that she witnessed Smith and Appollis have a strong and heated argument at their shack in Middelpos on the day before Joshlin disappeared.
The trial for missing six-year-old Joshlin was put on hold briefly yesterday t when the state witness, Lombaard, asked to step out during cross-examination due to illness.
As the case continues, the focus remains on seeking justice for the little girl.
Lona is a recent graduate with an Honours degree in Journalism and Media Studies from Wits University. Passionate about storytelling, she is eager to learn, grow, and hone her writing skills.
