State witnesses drop several bombshells in Joshlin Smith trial

SALDANHA BAY - Several bombshells were dropped in the Joshlin Smith trial this week as two witnesses crucial to the State's case testified against the accused.  

Joshlin's mother, Kelly Smith, Jacquen Appollis, and Stevano van Rhyn face charges of kidnapping and human trafficking after the little girl's disappearance.  

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- Court hears that all the accused agreed to keep quiet about Kelly Smith selling Joshlin to a sangoma

- Lourentia Lombaard says she saw a white bakkie near Kelly Smith's shack day before Joshlin disappeared

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

The accused are on trial in the Western Cape High Court, sitting in the Saldanha Bay multi-purpose centre.  

Details of Smith's alleged plan to sell Joshlin to a sangoma for R20,000 emerged in the trial this week.  

Earlier this week, preacher Steven Coetzee told the court how Smith told him about her intention to sell her three children for R20,000.  

Coetzee said Smith's plan to sell her children was already underway in August 2023, six months before Joshlin went missing.  

A former accused turned State witness, Lourencia Lombaard, then took the stand on Friday to reveal how Smith told her she had sold Joshlin.  

Lombaard told the court how she witnessed Smith take Joshlin to a woman in a white car dressed like a sangoma on the day Joshlin disappeared.  

She said that she saw Smith leave with Joshlin, but when she returned to Middelpos later that day, Joshlin was gone.  

Lombaard is set to continue her testimony on Monday.