Joshlin Smith: Case of missing six-year-old to be tried in the high court

The case against the four suspects in the disappearance of six-year-old Joshlin Smith in 

February has been postponed to 16 September for the state to conclude its investigation. 

Joshlin’s mother Kelly Smith, her boyfriend Jacquen “Boeta” Appolis, as well as Stevano van Rhyn and Lourentia Lombaard, appeared in the Vredenburg magistrate’s court on Monday. They have been charged with trafficking for the purpose of exploitation and kidnapping and abandoned their bail applications in previous court appearances.

This is the second time the state has requested the postponement of the matter to give it time to conclude its investigation into the girl’s disappearance. 

“Further forensic analysis is outstanding and administrative matters are being attended to in the interim,” the state prosecutor told the Vredenburg court on Monday. 

The court heard that the case would be tried in the high court, after the accused’s appearance on 16 September. 

Joshlin vanished from her home in the Middelpos informal settlement in Saldanha Bay on 19 February.

At the time of Joshlin’s disappearance, her mother told the police that she could not find her daughter when she returned home after being out for the day. She had called her boyfriend, Appolis, in whose care she left the child, but he could not account for her whereabouts.

In March, state prosecutor Jacques van Wyk said the fourth suspect in the case, Lombaard, had confessed, without saying what she had confessed to. Van Wyk said he could give no further details.

Lombaard was allegedly the last person to see Joshlin before she disappeared.