Joshlin Smith trial: Kelly Smith, 2 co-accused found guilty of kidnapping & human trafficking
Despite the ruling, authorities are still clueless as to the whereabouts of Joshlin, who disappeared from her Middelpos home in Saldanha in February last year.
Kelly Smith (right), Jacquen Appolis and Stevano van Rhyn appeared in the high court sitting at the Saldanha Bay Multi-Purpose Centre in Saldanha Bay on 3 March 2025. Picture: Carlo Petersen/EWN
SALDANHA BAY - Loud cries of "justice for Joshlin" echoed through the Saldanha Bay Multi-purpose Centre on Friday after the missing girl’s mother, Kelly Smith and her co-accused, Jacquen Appollis and Steveno van Rhyn, were found guilty of kidnapping and human trafficking.
The accused will now be held in custody for a week before sentencing procedures begin.
Despite the ruling, authorities are still clueless as to the whereabouts of Joshlin, who was six years old when she disappeared from her Middelpos home in Saldanha in February last year.
Judge Nathan 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 on Friday.
Erasmus mentioned how the State used the testimonies of preacher, Steven Coetzee, and former accused-turned-State-witness, Lourencia Lombaard, to show there was sufficient corroboration to prove the accused were guilty.
Erasmus said he was of the view that the State succeeded in proving the guilt of the accused.
Smith, Appollis and Van Rhyn will now appear in the Western Cape High Court in Cape Town on Friday next week for sentencing to commence.