By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Captain Wesley Lombard, the investigating officer in the Joshlin Smith case, was cross-examined by defence advocate Fanie Harmse before the Western Cape High Court on Friday.
Lombard denied any assaults took place in his presence, as the trial continued with a focus on the treatment of the accused.
Harmse argued that the statements made by his client were obtained under duress.
He stated that on March 4, his client believed the individuals at the Sea Border offices to be police officers, despite them not wearing uniforms.
Lombard stated that no assaults took place in his presence and that none were reported to the police.
When asked if he had heard any sounds of an assault, he replied that he had not, but noted that the accused appeared nervous.
According to Harmse, police officers handcuffed Appollis and ordered him to sit on the floor and bring his knees towards his arms. They then pushed a rod in between his arms and legs and raised him off the floor.
Harmse said the officers placed a black plastic bag over Appollis’s head, and a man slapped him very hard. The plastic bag was held tight around his neck so he couldn’t breathe. This was done to the accused repeatedly, the lawyer said.
“Accused one said the officers kept forcing him to tell them what happened, and while the plastic bag was on his head, they were hitting him with batons on his hands, feet and head, and it was very sore and he couldn’t breathe,” Harmse added.
Lombard said he had not witnessed any of these actions against Appollis, but added that he was in and out of the building when the accused were kept in custody. He did however confirm that Appollis’s left eye was blue and swollen. But when Lombard asked Appollis at the time if he had been assaulted by the police, he said no.
He further stated that if there had been any altercation between the police and the community, it would have been reported to senior officers, but no such reports were made.
The trial, which commenced on 3 March, was set to conclude on 28 March, but Judge Nathan Erasmus ruled that the admissibility of the two accused’s statements would need to be tested in a trial within a trial.
Joslin disappeared from her Saldanha Bay home on 19 February 2024, and the accused are her mother Kelly Smith and her boyfriend Appollis, as well as the pair’s friend, Van Rhyn.
All three have pleaded not guilty of kidnapping and trafficking, but former co-accused Lourentia Lombaard, who turned state witness, has testified that Smith and Appollis planned to sell Joslin to a sangoma for R20 000.
On Friday, Van Rhyn’s attorney Nobahle Mkabayi said her client had also been assaulted by the police officers on duty.
“I have perused the statement with a fine comb. On my perusal I’ve realised that the statement is not an unequivocal admission of guilt that is required by law… It’s not a confession,” she said.
“If I argue that it was an admission, I argue that it was only an admission of fact admitted under the following circumstances: My client was not the author of the admission, the admission was prescribed to him. That means he didn’t make those admissions freely and voluntarily. He was tortured and it cannot be said that he made them under sober senses or sound mind, and he was unduly influenced.”
Erasmus said the trial would continue on Tuesday, and warned the defence and state to prepare themselves for long days ahead.