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A picture of Joshlin Smith on a jacket of member of the public is seen outside the Western Cape High Court on 02 May 2025.
Proceedings in the kidnapping case of Joshlin Smith have been postponed to May 23 in the Western Cape High Court for transfer to Saldanha Bay.
The missing girl’s mother, Kelly Smith, Jacquen Appollis and Steveno van Rhyn, were found guilty of kidnapping the six-year–old and trafficking her for payment or promises of payment.
The trio appeared briefly in court this morning.
The girl went missing from the Middelpos informal settlement in Saldanha Bay in February last year.
Meanwhile, non-profit organisation, Missing Children South Africa, says there’s still hope that details of the girl’s whereabouts will emerge.
Its national co-ordinator, Bianca van Aswegen says, “I think the main thing that we need to take out of this case, is firstly, the guilty verdict of the human trafficking because human trafficking is so rife in SA and like I mentioned, we don’t get a lot of prosecution on such cases. So, I think this should be a lesson for SA. The bad is still the fact that Joshlin is still missing and still take out the fact that there are so many children that are still missing in SA.”
PODCAST | Missing Children South Africa is still hopeful that details will emerge regarding young Joshlin Smith’s whereabouts:
