[WATCH] One girl, three accused, a nation watching — The Joshlin Smith trial timeline

CAPE TOWN - Joshlin's mother, Kelly Smith, and her co-accused, Jacquen Appollis and Steveno van Rhyn, have been found guilty of kidnapping and human trafficking related to the little girl's disappearance.

Sentencing proceedings begin on Tuesday 27 May, but how did we get here? EWN recaps the events that led up to the guilty verdict.

20th of February, 2024

Joshlin Smith, then six years old, was reported missing from an informal settlement in Middelpos, Saldanha Bay. She was allegedly entrusted to her mother's boyfriend.

On Monday, the 19th of February, Joshlin vanished without a trace.

Witnesses recalled last seeing her in the company of an unidentified boy. She was wearing a light blue t-shirt, denim shorts and had a distinctive birth mark on her left arm. Community members then began their search for the missing girl.

Saldanha community continues desperate search for Joshlin Smith (6)

WATCH: 'No one just vanishes' - search for six-year-old Joshlin Smith enters day eight

The search for Joshlin Smith continued for fourth day in Saldana Bay on Friday, the 24th of February 2024.

The Saldana Bay municipality offered a R20,000 reward for information on the missing child's whereabouts as police investigated leads. At this stage, police, the South African Navy and residents were involved in the search.

Tensions begin running high, Middelpos with angry residents pointing the finger at Kelly and her boyfriend, known as Buta, they threatened to take the law into their own hands.

Kelly Smith says police needed to protect her from an angry mob after allegedly pointing fingers at her for her child's disappearance.

Joshlin Smith’s mother says police had to ‘protect’ her from angry Middlepos mob

On the 27th of February, Kelly appears on a now deleted Facebook live interview with Patriotic Alliance leader Gayton McKenzie. He offers a R100,000 reward for information regarding the missing child. Smith' sister, Michaela Daniels, who would later take the stand during the trial also appeared on the live.

On the second of March 2024 then Police Minister Bheki Cele visits Middlepos.

The next day, Western Cape police confirmed discovery of blood-stained items in an open field. Police later report that DNA on those clothes is not a match with Jocelyn Smith's DNA. This is on the eighth of April.

Missing Joshlin Smith update: Police discover blood-stained clothing lined for forensic analysis

On the fifth of March, two men and two women eventually revealed to Jacquen Appollis, Steveno van Rhyn, Kelly Smith and Phumza Sigaqa are taken in for questioning. Statements, including two confessions from Appollis and Van Rhyn, are taken by police.

The four are arrested and remain in police custody. Smith, Appollis, van Rhyn and Sigaqa make their first appearance at the Vredenburg Magistrate Court on the 7th of March.

They are charged with human trafficking and kidnapping. Community members protest outside the court and searches in community continue thereafter.

Four suspects arrested in connection to Joshlin Smith disappearance due in court

23 days after the little girl has been reported missing, charges against accused number four, Phumza Sigaqa are withdrawn and Lourencia Lombaard, a neighbor to Kelly Smith, is arrested on the same charges.

Outside the Vredenburg Magistrate Court on the same day, scuffles break out between protesting residents and police. Police disperse the crowd using stun grenades.

WATCH: New suspect charged with human trafficking, kidnapping in Joshlin Smith case

WATCH: Joshlin Smith's mother among the four suspected charged with kidnapping and human trafficking

It's now the 25th of March - Accused number four, Lourencia Lombaard confesses to her involvement in the disappearance of Joshua and Smith. She also abandons her bail application.

It's now eight months since Joshlin Smith went missing. Kidnapping and human trafficking charges against accused number four, Lourencia Lombaard, are withdrawn and she's set for release. Lombaard will now appear as a state witness under Section 204. The matter is transferred to the Western Cape High Court for pre-trial in January 2025.

Fourth accused confesses to involvement in Joshlin Smith case

WATCH: Joshlin Smith: Accused number four confesses to involvement in child's dissapearence, abandons bail

Sports, Arts and Culture Minister Gayton McKenzie

Following a question from Democratic Alliance. MP, Liam Jacobs, Minister of Social Development, Nokuzola Tolashe reveals that the Joshlin Smith Foundation that Patriotic Alliance leader Gayton McKenzie promised to establish and donate his salary into, does not exist.

"It is when you make a proclamation. It's when you say you are going to do something that is in the social interest, and you make that claim under oath as a minister, and you don't follow through on that claim under some justification that it doesn't exist. The funny thing is, is that it takes two months to register an NPO in Western Cape, two months. So you're telling me, and he's telling us, in fact, that he couldn't do that, that nobody in his team could do that, that it doesn't exist."

Where's the Joshlin Smith foundation? NPO McKenzie pledged salary to STILL doesn't exist

Five days later, on the 11th of November, 2024 – Sports, Arts and Culture Minister Gayton Mackenzie says he's been true to his word to spend his ministerial salary on worthy causes, despite not having set up the promised foundation for missing Saldana Bay child, Joshua Smith. McKenzie says he didn't want to rush the matter.

31st of January 2025 - Pre-trial

On the 31st of January 2025 the pre-trial hearing related to the disappearance of six-year-old Jocelyn Smith is postponed to the 28th of February because of an administrative issue. The court also hears that the matter will be transferred back to Saldana Bay to accommodate the community.

On the 19th of February 2025 marks, one year since Joshua's disappearance, community members hold a prayer service in Middelpos and Joshua Smith is still missing.

The trial of Kelly Smith, Jacquen Appollis and Steveno van Rhyn begins in the Western Cape High Court sitting in Saldana Bay

On the third of March, 2025 the trio plead not guilty to charges of kidnapping and human trafficking.

Joshlin Smith’s granny shocked her daughter didn’t cry after granddaughter disappeared

On the sixth of March, 2025 an inspection in Loco is conducted in Middelpos, Saldana Bay as part of the trial related to the disappearance of Joshua and Smith, court officials and the accused visit the shack and greater area where Jocelyn was last seen.

An inspection in Loco is a legal term derived from Latin meaning on the spot or at the place in court proceedings, it refers to a visit by the judge and or court officials to a relevant location, typically the scene of a crime, accident or disputed property, to observe, first hand, the physical layout, conditions or context relevant to the case. The inspection can be used to provide the court with a better understanding of the physical evidence or testimonies and clarify witness accounts by seeing the actual layout or location referenced in evidence.

We now zoom in on the key testimonies from this trial, which sat from the 3rd of March 2025.

At the beginning of the trial, Judge Nathan Erasmus emphasised the importance of efficiency to conclude the matter within a timeframe of four weeks. Throughout the trial, the court sat from Monday to Friday with proceedings occasionally postponed due to unforeseen circumstances.

The state finalized its case on the 30th of April 2025. They brought over 30 witnesses.

The defence did not bring any of their own witnesses but rather used cross examinations of the state's key witnesses to establish their client’s innocence, family violence, child protection and sexual offenses.

Sergeant Meyer Milstein

Sergeant Meyer Milstein took the stand on the 6th of March 2025. Milstein briefly interviewed Kelly Smith and Jacquen Appollis at their shack in Middlepos on the 20th of February, a day after Joshlin disappeared.

In his testimony, he told the court that a dog from the canine unit retrieved a blood-stained bed sheet and pillowcase from the shack during the search of the premises.

Milstein told the court that both Smith and Appollis showed no emotions when he spoke to them about what happened to Joshlin.

Saldanha Bay preacher says Kelly Smith told him about plan to sell her 3 children

He said that after interviewing the accused throughout the week after Joshlin disappeared, it became clear they were lying.

Nico Steven Coetzee, an evangelist from Saldana whoknew Smith because they were from the same hometown, testified that Smith confided in him about plans to sell her children in August 2023 this was six months before Jocelyn went missing.

Coetzee testified that Smith told him that the town of Saldana would become like a Hollywood movie scene early in 2024 and that people would search for her child, but she would be nowhere to be found because she would have sent her far away.

Drug use

Constable Refilwe Sekhobe, also a member of the family violence child protection and sexual offenses unit, conducted interviews with Smith, Appollis and Lombard.

Sekhobe established that all four accused were on drugs. While taking Lombard’s statement, she mentioned someone called Steffi later identified as Steveno van Rhyn.

This led investigators to pursue him as a person of interest. While Sekhobe took his statement, he admitted to being at the shack on the day that Joshlin went missing.

During her investigation, it was also revealed that Joshlin had allegedly been sold to a traditional healer. Lourencia, also known as Renz Lombaard, was once an accused who became the state's key witness.

She took the stand between the 13th and 20th of March, 2025 she revealed a planned transaction implicating Kelly Smith of selling her child, Lombaard and Van rein were meant to receive payment from Smith for their silence.

The four, including Van Rhyn, were friends who frequently used mandrix and methamphetamine, better known as Tick together. According to Lombaard’s timeline of events, on Sunday, the 18th of February 2024, Kelly received a phone call.

Social worker details how Joshlin Smith's mom's drug addiction caused family problems

After that phone call, she informed Appollis that someone was interested in Joshlin for 20,000.

Later that afternoon, Lombaard said she saw Kelly meet a woman with a white VW Polo.

From Lombaard’s observations - because of the white spots on her face, the green blouse, skirt and head scarf - the woman was a traditional healer or a sangoma.

Lombard testified that Smith said she did it because of financial struggles. She testified that the following day, on the 19th of February, she witnessed Joshlin being placed into the same white VW Polo with the same woman from the previous day.

During cross examination on the 18th of March 2025 Lombaard admits to initially lying to the police, attributing her dishonesty to fear and being under the influence of drugs. She acknowledged being high during the week leading up to Joshlin’ disappearance.

The defence then used this to question the reliability of a testimony.

Trial within a trial

Also pivotal to the state's case was the confession statements of Appollis and Van Rhyn.

The accused claimed that they were tortured by police to make the confessions before being instructed what to say in the statements. A lengthy trial within a trial ensued before Erasmus ruled that the confession statements could be used as evidence against the accused.

WATCH: Joshlin Smith trial within a trial: Defence scrutinise Van Rhyn's confession statement

WATCH: Joshlin Smith Trial: "Do you know Jesus?" - Jacquen Appollis testifies about alleged assault

In the confessions, the accused stated that Smith instructed them to take Joshlin to Phumza Sigaqa, another former accused in the matter.

Sigaqa, was then to give Appollis R20,000 for Joshlin, but the accused claim that when he asked her for the money, she told him another arrangement had been made with Smith.

Van Rhyn and Appollis also mentioned an unknown man with a red t-shirt being present when Joshin was left with Sigaqa.

Van Rhyn told police he returned to Sigaqa’s home the following day to get his cut of R5000, which he never received. Charges against Sigaqa were subsequently withdrawn after police could find no evidence to prove she was involved in Joshlin's disappearance.

Joshlin Smith: State witness tells court Kelly Smith sold child to a sangoma for R20,000

WATCH: Joshlin Smith: State witness tells court Kelly Smith sold child to a sangoma for R20,000

On the 2^nd of May 2025 Judge Nathan Erasmus delivered a comprehensive judgment in the Western Cape High Court convicting Kelly Smith, Jacquen ‘Buta’ Apollis and Steveno van Rhyn of kidnapping and human trafficking related to the disappearance of six-year-old Joshlin Smith.

He found that the state had proven beyond a reasonable doubt that the accused were guilty of the charges and that the evidence showed that Joshlin was exchanged and her freedom of movement and liberty was inhibited to the extent that her whereabouts were still unknown, making it unlawful.

Erasmus emphasized that the state's case was not only reliant on the evidence from Lombaard, because her testimony validated other testimonies and evidence.

Erasmus also criticized the accused for choosing not to testify or call any witnesses in their defense. He noted that while they had the right to remain silent, their decision left the court with unchallenged evidence presented by the state.

He added that more evidence could still be presented during sentencing proceedings, which could influence them to take the stand.

Erasmus revealed that he would deal with the indemnity of Lombaard, who could still face prosecution at a later stage.

Hours after being convicted, Kelly Smith's shack is burnt to the ground and a woman is taken in for questioning on the 12th of May, 2025. After appearing at the Vredenburg Magistrate Court, she tells media outside she did it out of anger, because she wants Kelly to tell the community where the child is.

[WATCH] 'You've made our lives hell': Kelly Smith’s mom says daughter is not the victim