A South African woman, Kelly Smith, has been convicted of kidnapping and trafficking her six-year-old daughter, Joshlin Smith, who has not been seen since February last year. The case, which unfolded in Saldanha Bay near Cape Town, has drawn national attention.
Smith’s boyfriend, Jacquen Appollis, and their friend Steveno van Rhyn were also found guilty of the same charges on Friday. All three had pleaded not guilty.
Joshlin vanished more than a year ago from outside her family home. Despite intensive public appeals and a high-profile search effort, no trace of the child has been found.
During the trial, held in March, prosecutors accused Kelly Smith of either selling, delivering, or exchanging her daughter before misleading authorities about her disappearance.
Emotions ran high in the courtroom as the guilty verdicts were delivered. Smith appeared tearful while Van Rhyn smiled inexplicably. Applause broke out among those present, and some in the audience wept.
The trial took place at Saldanha’s Multipurpose Centre, chosen to allow the community access to proceedings. Security was heightened, with nearby roads closed and police stationed at the venue.
Testimony during the trial included shocking allegations. A key witness, Lourentia Lombaard—a friend and neighbor of Smith—testified that Smith told her she had “done something silly” and sold Joshlin to a traditional healer, or sangoma.
Lombaard claimed the buyer allegedly wanted the child for her “eyes and skin.” Another witness, a local pastor, told the court that in 2023 Smith had talked about selling her children for 20,000 rand each, and was willing to accept as little as $275.
Joshlin’s teacher testified that Smith told her the girl was already “on a ship, inside a container, and they were on the way to West Africa,” during the frantic early days of the search.
Smith’s defense lawyer, Rinesh Sivnarain, questioned the reliability of these statements, pointing to inconsistencies in Lombaard’s story. He described her as an opportunist. The defendants did not testify or call any witnesses in their defense.
The trial has reignited debates in South Africa about the safety of children in impoverished communities, where issues such as drug abuse and human trafficking persist. In Joshlin’s neighborhood of Middelpos, parents say they remain fearful for their children’s safety, more than a year after her disappearance.
