Sentencing proceedings for Joshlin Smith's kidnappers set for 29 May

CAPE TOWN - Joshlin Smith's kidnappers will know their fate on 29 May.

The child’s mother, Kelly Smith, and her co-accused, Jacquen Appollis and Steveno van Rhyn, were convicted of kidnapping and human trafficking last week. 

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The court found the child's mother and her friends plotted to sell her daughter to an unknown person for R20,000. 
 
Joshlin was six years old when she disappeared from her Middelpos home in Saldanha Bay in February 2024.
 
Smith, Appollis and Van Rhyn made a 15-minute appearance in the Western Cape High Court this morning. 

The court mapped out its plan for sentencing proceedings, expected to begin in the High Court sitting in Saldana Bay on 27 May.

The trio will be detained at Pollsmoor prison until their return to this court on the 23rd of this month, when the matter is transferred back to the multi-purpose centre in Saldanha Bay. 

“On the 27^th we start with the arguments in mitigation and aggravation of sentences. We intend to have witness victim impact statements done by a social worker, where we will have of the community who were affected by this case to see how it has impacted on them,” said the National Prosecuting Authority’s Eric Ntabazalila.

Ntabazalila said a trafficking in persons expert is among the witnesses the State will call in the argument of aggravation of sentence.