Court urged to grant immunity to state witness in Joshlin Smith case

Advocate Eben Van Tonder, representing Lourentia Lombaard, a Section 204 witness in the Joshlin Smith kidnapping and trafficking case, has pleaded with the High Court in Cape Town to grant her indemnity.

Van Tonder has argued that if a witness answers all questions honestly and successfully, then they should qualify for indemnity.

Van Tonder says the court should rely on the balance of probabilities to determine whether the witness answered satisfactorily.

Van Tonder says evidence of the witness need not be accepted in totality but should be accepted if it provides enough evidence to corroborate the State’s case.

He says the court has relied on the testimony of Lombaard to reach the judgment against three people convicted of the human trafficking and kidnapping of seven-year-old Joshlin a year and a half ago from the Middlepos informal settlement at Saldanha.

LIVESTREAM: Trio involved in the Joshlin Smith’s case appeal in court for leave