Key witness in Joshlin Smith case says she was tortured at safe house

Key witness in the Joshlin Smith trial, Lourentia Lombaard on the stand.

1 minute

The state’s key witness in the Joshlin Smith trial, Lourentia Lombaard, has told the court that she and her boyfriend, Ayanda Letoni, were assaulted and tortured while being held with her two children at a safe house in Langebaan in March last year.

Joshlin’s mother, Kelly Smith, Jacquen “Boeta” Appollis and Steveno van Rhyn are on trial for kidnapping and human trafficking in the Western Cape High court sitting at Saldanha Bay on the Cape West Coast.

Earlier in the trial, Lombaard testified that Smith had confided in her that she had sold Joshlin to a sangoma for R20,000.

Van Rhyn’s lawyer, Nobahle Mkabayi, had her turn to cross examine Lombaard.

She asked her why Letoni left Saldanha Bay shortly after Joshlin’s disappearance. She testified that community members wanted to break down his house.

“We stayed there for 2/3 weeks. Other people came; (people who) work for the police, asking about Joshlin. Many other people came there as well and assaulted us there, and didn’t worry about my children that were there.”