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SAPS Western Cape extends its heartfelt congratulations and sincere appreciation to the dedicated SAPS investigation team and the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) for their relentless efforts and exceptional work that led to the successful sentencing of the three individuals convicted in connection with the tragic disappearance of #JoshlinSmith.
The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) has welcomed the sentences handed down to six-year-old Joshlin Smith’s kidnappers.
Steveno van Rhyn, Jacquen Appollis and the child’s mother, Kelly Smith, have each been sentenced to life imprisonment on charges of human trafficking and 10 years on charges of kidnapping. The sentences will run concurrently.
The girl disappeared from her home in the Middelpos informal settlement in Saldanha Bay, in February last year. Her whereabouts are still not yet known.
Western Cape Director of Public Prosecutions Advocate Nicolette Bell says, “We are very happy about the sentence. This week is Child Protection Week, this case is a testimony of the NPA’s conferment in protecting the rights of children. Today’s result is also a testimony of what happens if the community, stakeholders, everybody work together as a collective. Then we have positive outcomes like this.”
Joshlin Smith | Judge Nathan Erasmus sentences trio to life in prison:
#sapsWC #SAPS Management in the Western Cape extends its heartfelt congratulations and sincere appreciation to the dedicated SAPS investigation team and the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) for their relentless efforts and exceptional work that led to the successful… pic.twitter.com/PipaTWCa26
— SA Police Service 🇿🇦 (@SAPoliceService) May 29, 2025
[BREAKING NEWS] Joshlin Smith’s kidnappers sentenced to life in prison:
Interpol
Western Cape Police Commissioner Thembisile Patekile says they’re working with Interpol to try and trace the whereabouts of Joshlin.
Patekile says their probe is ongoing.
“We will not rest until we find what happened to Joshlin. We are continuing day and night looking for Joshlin, and we are appealing to everybody that let’s work together to find the missing child and all other missing children out there that have not had the opportunity to be heard and have their cases brought forward like today. That we stand together as a country, as citizens and community and all concerned South Africans, and also all human beings who are parents and grandparents.”
Hopeful
Joshlin Smith’s paternal grandmother, Rita Yon, says she hopes that Smith and her boyfriend, Appollis, will one day tell the truth about what happened to the little girl.
Yon spoke to the media following the sentencing.
“We hope that she wants to talk because I want to go to Kelly now and ask her to tell us where the child is.”
