Joshlin Smith trial: Appollis details alleged torture during interrogation

SALDANHA BAY - One of the accused in the Joshlin Smith trial has detailed how he was allegedly tortured during police interrogation.

Accused number one, Jacquen Appollis, took the stand on Friday in a trial within a trial.

Legal teams are arguing whether confession statements made by Appollis and co-accused, Stevano van Rhyn, can be used as evidence in the trial.

The accused claim they were tortured and threatened with death to admit their involvement in Joshlin's disappearance.

Appollis, Van Rhyn and Joshlin's mother, Kelly Smith, are on trial for kidnapping and human trafficking related to the child's disappearance.

Appollis took the stand on Friday to tell the court how men, who were not in police uniform, allegedly tortured him to implicate the other accused in Joshlin's disappearance.

Appollis detailed how five men in plain clothing tortured him at the Sea Border police offices on 4 March last year to tell them what happened to Joshlin.

"Two males took me from the chair and pressed me down to the ground. I was handcuffed. I was told to pull up my legs."

Appollis said afterwards that the men instructed him to confess that Smith told him and Van Rhyn to take Joshlin to a woman in Middelpos known as "Maka Lima" for R20,000.

The woman, a former accused named Phumza Sigaqa, was released after police could find no evidence against her.