By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Lourentia Lombaard, the key state witness in the Joshlin Smith kidnapping and human trafficking trial, suddenly felt “dizzy” during cross-examination by the defence attorney for Kelly Smith, mother of Joslin.
The trial concerning Joshlin Smith kidnapping is now in its third and final week at the Western Cape High Court.
Since the proceedings began earlier this month, the court has heard disturbing testimonies from multiple witnesses.
Attorney Rinesh Sivnarain was questioning Lombaard about the inconsistencies in her confession statement, which was made before she turned state witness last year and subsequently made another statement.
Lombaard last week told the court that she had made “mistakes” in her confession statement, because she did not trust the police officer who took the statement, and she was still under the influence of drugs. She had, however, last taken drugs two to three days earlier, as she herself admitted under cross-examination.
Sivnarain asked if there was anything Lombaard had forgotten when she made the confession statement. At this point, she turned to the judge and said: “My lord, can I ask, I need to get some fresh air, my head is feeling a little dizzy”.
Lombaard was excused, and as she was being held by her arms and led out of the hall in which the court is sitting.
She also had to be excused last week during cross-examination and attended to by medics, but returned to the stand the following day.
The latest incident took place late on Tuesday afternoon, with the judge intimating that because he had read the confession statement, he knew where Sivnarain was going with his questioning. “I knew you were going to go for the jugular before the end of the day,” he said.
He also said: “I won’t have my court time being manipulated, not by counsel, not by witnesses.”
It is unclear at this stage what her medical condition is and whether she will take the stand again on Wednesday.
Lombaard’s evidence is critical for the State, particularly on the charge of human trafficking, which could result in the accused receiving a life sentence.
Smith, Jacquen Appollis and Stevono van Rhyn face charges of human trafficking for exploitation and kidnapping following Joshlin’s 19 February 2024 disappearance from the Middelpos informal settlement in Saldanha Bay.
The State contends that they “sold, delivered or exchanged”Joshlin. The court heard evidence from Lombaard that Smith allegedly sold Joshlin for R20,000 to a sangoma. Joshlin, who was six years old at the time, remains missing.
Lombaard was initially a co-accused with the trio, but turned State witness in a bid to win indemnity.
Earlier in the day, combative cross-examination took place that prompted a rebuke from the bench, when defence attorney Nobahle Mkabayi pressed Lombaard with seemingly misleading interpretations of testimony.
Judge Nathan Erasmus scolded Mkabayi several times during her questioning of Lombaard, accusing the lawyer of taking statements out of context and misrepresenting evidence.
Mkabayi appeared intent on distancing her client, Stefano van Rhyn, from events that allegedly unfolded on Sunday 18 February, when, according to Lombaard, Smith, “discussed” with her partner, accused one Jacquen “Boeta” Appollis, that she would be selling her daughter to a sangoma for R20 000.
Lombaard overheard this, she said, and Van Rhyn must have too, because Smith was speaking loudly.
According to Lombaard’s testimony, both her and Van Rhyn were offered money for their silence – R1 000 for Lombaard and R1 200 for Van Rhyn.
Joslin, who was six at the time, has not been seen since Monday 19 February 2024.
According to Lombaard’s evidence-in-chief, she saw her friend Smith — with whom she regularly “smoked drugs” — walking Joslin to a car in the area of the Smith family’s shack in the Middelpos area of Saldanha on the Sunday, to receive payment for the child. The handing over of Joslin to the sangoma was only to take place on Monday.
In dispute was that Van Rhyn was at Smith and Appollis’s shack, along with Lombaard, when Smith said she had orchestrated the sale of Joslin.
Also in dispute was Lombaard being able to see the sangoma — a black woman with “white dots” on her face, on that Sunday — given that she was about 80m from the car.
Mkabayi told Lombaard that she was implicating Van Rhyn in the disappearance of the child because, as per her testimony on Monday, she “did not like the look of him” (he was an unsavoury character), and because he had implicated Lombaard’s partner, Ayanda, and Lombaard in the child’s disappearance.
Lombaard denied she was implicating Van Rhyn in anything, saying again that he was present when the sale of Joslin was mentioned by Smith, at the shack Smith shared with Appollis, Joslin and the child’s two siblings.
Mkabayi’s line of questioning irked Erasmus when she took Lombaard’s prior testimony out of context, more than once. Mkabayi insisted Lombaard had different versions of how many people were in Smith’s shack when Smith allegedly said she had sold Joslin.