Police continue search for missing Joshlin Smith as traffickers appeal conviction sentence

CAPE TOWN - The Joshlin Smith case returns to the Western Cape High Court on Tuesday, while the police's search for the missing girl, continues.
 
Joshlin was six years old when she disappeared from her Middelpos home in Saldanha Bay in February 2024.
 
At the end of May, her mother, Kelly Smith, Jacquen Appollis and Steveno van Rhyn, were handed life sentences for human trafficking and ten years for kidnapping.

But they believe the court has erred in sentencing them to life behind bars, and the court will now hear applications for leave to appeal their convictions and life sentences.
 
There was a brief glimmer of hope when police, reacting to information, descended on the community of Middelpos in Saldanha Bay late in July.
 
An engineer accompanied the SAPS teams to an old, unused, 3-meter-deep septic tank, where a search was conducted overnight.
 
The search yielded no results but the police's investigation and search for Joshlin, are continuing.
 
After sentencing was handed down at the end of May, Western Cape Police Commissioner Thembisile Patekile said police would not rest until they found out what happened to the child.
 
He said they've been working with Interpol and policing agencies around the world, in their probe.