Fifteen months after six-year-old South African Joshlin Smith disappeared, on 29 May 2025, her mother Kelly, her lover Jacquen Rowhan Appollis and another accomplice Steveno van Rhyn were sentenced to life on the charges of human trafficking and additional 10 years for the kidnapping. Yet their community has not received answers. Questions of whether Joshlin was sold to a local witch doctor for muti or an international human trafficking child-sex ring are still being asked in the dusty streets of Middelpos, an informal settlement at Saldanha Bay, situated 120 kilometers north-west from Cape Town.

In her defense Kelly claimed she was raised by her abusive maternal grandmother, and was already addicted to drugs by the age of 15. As an adult, she lived in a corrugated iron shack in the informal settlement Middelpos with her boyfriend Appollis, and her three children, her daughter Joshlin, her older brother and younger half-sister. Witnesses testified Kelly intermittently held jobs as a domestic cleaner to try and support her family, but mostly the children were neglected, thus her employer paid her with food, to ensure the children had something to eat.  She regularly borrowed money to buy drugs.

On the day of Joshlin’s disappearance, 19 February 2024, a family friend Laurentia Lombaard, who later turned state witness, Appollis and another friend, Van Rhyn, were smoking marijuana and using ‘tik’ at the shack.  Kelly would pop in and out to join them, bringing them more drugs. Both Joshlin and her older brother were at home as they did not go to school that day because they did not have clean uniforms.  No-one is sure exactly at what time Joshlin disappeared but she was only reported missing at 9 am on the following morning. Sergeant MA Milstein took the case.

Within days, Joshlin’s disappearance had captured the attention of the nation. Her photograph of her alluring eyes and sweet innocent smile went viral on social media.  Besides local search parties, the navy was brought in to search for the little girl with the beautiful eyes.  The case went global on social media, perhaps due to inferences that she was sold to a sangoma, who allegedly bought her for her eyes and skin. 

Two weeks later police arrested her mother Kelly (born Raquel Chantal) Smith, her boyfriend Jacquen “Boeta” Appollis, Steveno van Rhyn and Phumza Sigaqa, a woman who lived in another shack near Kelly’s.

Phumza Sigaqa was incorrectly identified by the community as a local sangoma – a traditional healer.  Phumza Sigaqa was released after charges against her were withdrawn due to a lack of evidence. She has since left her home following threats from members of the community.

Initially Kelly professed she would turn every rock and search every shack to find her missing daughter. 

However, testimonies delivered during the trial revealed Kelly’s guilt.  A local pastor testified he had heard Kelly boasting she would sell her children for R20 000, ($1,100) each. All three suspects slept soundly the night of the disappearance. Months later, Kelly danced at a music festival, claiming Joshlin had made her famous.  Judge Nathan Erasmus found these circumstances aggravating and sentenced the trio to life imprisonment for human trafficking and another 10 years for kidnapping. Their names are to be entered into the child protection register. A question remains: Will Kelly Smith, Jacquen Appollis and Steveno Van Rheyn be released after 15 or 20 years to return to a broken community and open old wounds?

The case of Joshlin Smith has not been closed.  She has not been found.  Kelly allegedly told someone Joshlin was in a container on a ship somewhere, but she has kept ‘mum’ on her daughter’s true whereabouts. Lieutenant-general Thembisile Patekile, South African Police Provincial Commissioner confirmed they had extended the search for Joshlin outside the country. 

This week saw the resurfacing of another case of a missing child. Almost two decades after the disappearance of then three-year-old Madeleine McCann, in a combined effort last week, German and Portuguese police concluded a renewed search for her, using ground penetrating radar, focusing on a 120-acre of land close to Praia da Luz in the Algarve, where she disappeared 18 years ago. 

The search was instigated by the German police due to the activities of convicted rapist Christian Brueckner, who was imprisoned for raping a woman in the area in 2005. It is suspected he could have been involved in abducting Madeleine.

Perhaps the continued search for Madeleine McCann can give hope to the community of Middelpos that the search for Joshlin Smith will continue despite her mother’s incarceration. 

Top image: Executive Mayor Andrè Truter/ Facebook