For the past 15 months, South African child Joshlin Smith has been missing, and efforts to locate her through a nationwide search have yielded no results.
This week, in a shocking turn of events, the young girl’s mother, Kelly Smith, was found guilty of selling her to a ‘healer’. During the trial, numerous witnesses testified against Kelly after she confessed to her involvement in her daughter’s disappearance.
Kelly Smith, alongside her two accomplices, boyfriend Jacquen Appollis and friend Steveno van Rhyn, received life sentences from Judge Nathan Erasmus. The judge highlighted the trio’s lack of remorse throughout the proceedings.
“On the human trafficking charge, you are sentenced to life imprisonment. On the kidnapping charge, you are sentenced to 10 years imprisonment,” Judge Erasmus declared.
This sentencing implies that Kelly Smith, aged 35, will spend at least 35 years in prison before being eligible for parole, as will Appollis and van Rhyn.
Joshlin vanished on February 19, 2024, at the age of six without leaving any trace. Her mother initially claimed that she was playing outside their home in the Middelpos area of Saldanha, where they lived with Appollis and her siblings.
During the trial, a local pastor testified that in 2023, they overheard Kelly discussing selling her children for 20,000 rand each (approximately $1,100) and would even accept as little as $275.
Another witness, neighbor Lourentia Lombaard, stated that Kelly had admitted to selling her daughter for 20,000 rand to a traditional healer, or sangoma, who purportedly ‘wanted her for her eyes and skin’.
Joshlin’s teacher Tahirih Edna Maart from Diazville Primary School in Saldanha claimed that Kelly confessed to her at a petrol station during the fervent search for Joshlin, four days after she had gone missing.
Maart recounted in court, “What she told me was, ‘teacher, I want to tell you something confidential’, I said I was listening – she was talking very softly. She said she had received a call from a Nigerian man, who said that she had to ‘play quickly’.
“I asked her how she knew it was a Nigerian man. She didn’t answer. She then said that according to the information she received from the Nigerian man, Joshlin was on a boat in a container and that they were on their way to West Africa.”
Maart added: “I asked if she had told the police and she said, ‘teacher, I am scared because [the community] wants to hurt me’.
“Just before she got out, she said in a very soft voice, ‘remember, Boeta [Appollis] is not guilty’. That is where it ended, she got out of the car and vanished.”
Over 30 witnesses provided disturbing testimony on what might have happened to Joshlin, including Kelly’s own mother, Amanda Smith-Daniels, who also took the stand.
Amanda emotionally appealed to her daughter from the courtroom, pleading, “Bring my [grand]child back or tell me where she is”.
In an interview with Newzroom Arikka, she expressed: “I don’t feel that any sentence they get will bring my grandchild back,” and described the family’s devastation as ‘broken’.
The search for Joshlin is ongoing, with authorities remaining steadfast.
Western Cape police commissioner Thembisile Patekile asserted: “We will not rest until we find [out] what happened to Joshlin. We are continuing day and night looking for her.”
The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) affirmed that the sentence demonstrated that the six-year-old was ‘sold [and] delivered to the intended buyer’ for the purpose of ‘exploitation, namely slavery or practices similar to slavery’.
If any of these issues resonate with you or if you need to talk to someone confidentially about a child’s welfare, the Childhelp USA National Child Abuse Hotline (1-800-4-A-CHILD (1-800-422-4453)) is available 24/7. They accept calls from the United States, Canada, US Virgin Islands, Guam, and Puerto Rico.