By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The trial into the disappearance of seven-year-old Joslin Smith is continuing in the Circuit High Court in Saldanha Bay on the West Coast.
All the accused have pleaded not guilty to all the charges they are facing.
Her mother, Kelly Smith, and two co-accused are facing charges of kidnapping and trafficking.
Last year, charges were withdrawn against the fourth accused, Lourentia Lombaard — referred to as Rens throughout proceedings — who has turned state witness.
The state alleges in its indictment that Kelly Smith, mother of the still missing seven-year-old “communicated during August 2023 her plan to have her children be taken away or sold. The plan was for this to happen in January or February 2024.”
The High Court trial commenced with the state calling its first witness, Constable Yanga Gongotha, a police officer with seven years of service.
Gongotha testified that on the day of the child’s disappearance Kelly Smith, accused number 3 and Joslin’s mother, appeared more concerned about her boyfriend Jacquin Apollis’ whereabouts than her missing daughter, as conveyed through an interpreter.
He inferred she appeared to be at a party when he and Investigating officer Zuko Kobese found her, and was more interested in the whereabouts of her partner, Appollis, who had been looking after Joslin on the day of her disappearance, than her child.
Gongotha testified on Monday that Smith had asked Appollis whether he had filled a gas bottle at the home they shared in the Tsitsiratsitsi informal settlement in Middelpos, Saldanha Bay, instead of asking him about the child.
Acting for Smith, accused three, attorney Rinesh Sivnarain asked Gongotha on Tuesday to confirm that he had made his statement about the night of the disappearance “in your own words”, to which the constable answered yes.
Gongotha’s statement was only made on 18 February this year, said Sivnarain, who then asked: “Prior to making the statement, did you make use of any source to refresh your memory?”
Gongotha said he had used his station’s missing person’s register, which was standard protocol.
“Did you speak to anyone? Your colleague or van crew? Did you discuss what happened on the 19th before you made your statement?” asked Sivnarain.
He added: “Would it surprise you if I put it to you that your colleague, Mr Kobese, has a statement that is almost identical to yours?”
As an example, said Sivnarain, paragraph three of both statements were “exactly the same, except that where you say ‘I’; Kobese says “we”.
Sivnarain also tried to refute Gongotha’s earlier testimony, in which he said that when he met Smith at the home of one of Joslin’s friends, she appeared nonplussed, and there was a party atmosphere, with loud music playing in the background.
“My client says she met you at a boy’s house who she received information her daughter Joslin was last seen with.”
“That is not what she told us,” replied Gongotha, who was testifying with the help of an interpreter.
“I am further instructed that when you arrived, [Smith] was in the company of two other people.”
“No, that is not correct,” said Gongotha.
“My instructions are that when you arrived with your colleague, the parent of the house that she had been at, looking for Joslin, arrived in his taxi with his friends, and they had loud music playing in the taxi.”
“That is not correct,” said Gongotha.
“I am instructed that that is the music you heard, it came from the taxi.”
“That is not correct,” said Gongotha.
Sivnarain said Smith would deny asking Appollis about filling a gas bottle when she first saw him. “I am instructed that immediately upon seeing accused number one, she inquired from him about Joslin’s whereabouts.”
“That is not correct,” said Gongotha.
The second witness was Kobese, an officer with 10 years under his belt, who also testified using a translator.
Asked by Judge Nathan Erasmus whether he was willing to have his face shown, given that the trial was being broadcast live, Kobese said he would prefer to remain off camera. The Saldanah community in which he still worked viewed him as “someone who is inciting other people”, he said.
More witnesses are scheduled to take the stand in the coming weeks. The trial will run until 28 March 2025.