By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Racquel ‘Kelly’ Smith, her boyfriend Jacquen ‘Boeta’ Appollis, and their friend Steveno ‘Steffie’ van Rhyn were found guilty of kidnapping and trafficking six-year old Joshlin Smith in the Western Cape High Court on Friday.
The State wanted Judge Nathan Erasmus to convict the three accused: Racquel Smith, the mother of missing Joshlin Smith, Jacquen Appollis and Steveno van Rhyn, on counts of kidnapping and human trafficking originating from Joshlin’s disappearance.
The central figure in this case is Joshlin’s mother, who is accused of masterminding the child’s disappearance.
The accused face life imprisonment on the count of human trafficking.
Smith, her boyfriend Appollis, also known as Boeta, and Van Rhyn face charges stemming from Joshlin’s disappearance on 19 February 2024 from the Middelpos informal settlement in Saldanha Bay.
The three, who have pleaded not guilty, have denied the allegations against them. The State alleges that the accused “sold, delivered or exchanged” Joshlin, a Grade 1 pupil at Diazville Primary, for money.
The only piece of solid evidence the State has against the three is that of State witness Lourentia ‘Renz’ Lombaard, who was initially accused number four, who detailed how Joshlin’s mother allegedly plotted to sell the six-year-old to a sangoma for R20,000.
Appollis and Van Rhyn appeared to have implicated themselves when they said Joshlin was taken to a supposed sangoma on the day she went missing. Judge Erasmus ruled that the accused’s confessions in the trial were admissible and could be used as evidence against them.
Judge Erasmus delivered the highly anticipated judgement at the White City Multipurpose Centre in Diazville on Friday, bringing to a close a harrowing case that has shaken the West Coast community and captured national attention.
Erasmus highlighted the corroboration of certain details in the testimonies of two witnesses and the confession statements of Appollis and Van Rhyn as pivotal to his ruling.
He mentioned how the State used the testimonies of preacher, Steven Coetzee, and former accused-turned-State-witness, Lombaard, to show there was sufficient corroboration to prove the accused were guilty.
The court accepted key evidence from State witness Lombaard, who testified against the accused.
Erasmus found that the State had proven beyond a reasonable doubt that the accused were guilty of the charges against them.
The trio is expected to be remanded in custody ahead of sentencing proceedings.
Smith’s mother, Amanda Daniel-Smith, who sat in the Saldanha Bay Multipurpose Centre’s first row listening to Erasmus, said she was happy with the judgment but disappointed not to know what happened to Joshlin, who was six years old when she disappeared and remains missing.
Smith started to cry immediately after the judgment was handed down. “I don’t want anything to do with her,” she said about her daughter.
Joshlin’s paternal grandmother, Rita Yon, also attended court. Western Cape police boss Lieutenant-General Thembisile Patekile was also in attendance.
The matter was postponed to 9 May when the court will sit in Cape Town to map out sentencing proceedings. At that juncture, the prosecutors and defence will lead evidence on aggravation and mitigation of circumstances.