Joshlin Smith kidnapping case headed for trial within a trial

The High Court sitting in Saldhana Bay in the Western Cape is gearing up for a trial within a trial in the Joshlin Smith kidnapping and human trafficking case.

It will consider statements and events made outside of the court and that are isolated from the main case.

Judge Nathan Erasmus will decide on what can and cannot be admissible.

Meanwhile, the state’s new witness, Captain Wesley Lombard, who’s the investigating officer in the case, says he was shocked by Kelly Smith’s behaviour as the search continued for Joshlin last year.

“How can a mother forget about a child in a few days? How can a mother speak like that? I further mentioned to her, my lord, you say you are heartbroken about your child, but you show no emotion. I mentioned to here that ‘there are lot of parents out there who are struggling to carry on with their lives because their children are still gone, but here, you are Kelly and in less than a week you must forget about your child’,” says Erasmus.

In a dramatic turn of events at the Joshlin Smith kidnapping and human trafficking trial, the Kelly Smith’s lawyer has said his client believes Lourentia Lombaard and her boyfriend, Ayanda Letoni, are the masterminds behind Joshlin’s disappearance.

Lombaard is the state’s key witness in the trial underway in Saldhana Bay in the Western Cape.

Smith, Jacquen “Boeta” Apollis and Steveno van Rhyn are the three accused in connection with the child’s disappearance. Lombaard says they sold the child to a sangoma for R20 000.

The defence for Smith, Rinesh Sivnarain, says his client says Lombaard was the last person to be seen with her child.

“I’m then further instructed that she then came to your house that evening, but did not find you there. I’m instructed that it was only Ayanda with the children and he could not explain your whereabouts. I’m instructed that a possible reason you are implicating her is to save your own skin. I’m also instructed that she believes that it was you and Ayanda that were the masterminds and who committed this,” says Sivnarain.