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Joshlin Smith’s mother, Kelly, who is facing charges including kidnapping and human trafficking, seen appearing before court.
State witness number 47 in the kidnapping and human trafficking trial of Joshlin Smith, Brigadier Leon Hanana has denied the accused in the case were assaulted.
Hanana was corroborating evidence given earlier by Investigating Officer, Captain Wesley Lombard.
The State Advocate asked Hanana if he had witnessed any of the assault and torture, what would he have done about it.
“I am a detective in a specialised environment, we believe in outsmarting a person rather than assaulting a person for anything. That was part of my briefing to my team, was that we need to gather evidence and prove our case. The question that you asked me advocate, if something like that happened in front of me, I would immediately take steps,” explains Hanana.
Earlier, defence counsel alleged that accused number one, Jacquen Appollis and accused number two, Stevano Van Rhyn were tortured in the process of obtaining confessions.
Appollis, Van Rhyn and Kelly Smith, the girl’s mother, are on trial in the High Court sitting in Saldanha Bay on the Cape West Coast.
Defence counsel for Steveno van Rhyn, the second accused in the kidnapping and human trafficking trial of Joshlin Smith, says police violated his rights at the time he made an alleged confession.
Advocate Nobahle Mkabayi was cross-examining the investigating officer in the case, Captain Lombard. Detective Lombard has denied this.
“After he indicated that he would like to tell the truth, I was not aware. I did not know what the truth was that he wanted to tell, probably the truth that he wanted to tell amounted to self-incriminating information.”
The state and defence in the Joshlin Smith trial may have been the victims of cyber-bullying. That’s according to Judge Nathan Erasmus, as the fifth week of the trial into the child’s disappearance got underway.
Judge Erasmus says stories spread by people include that he was also part of Joshlin’s disappearance.
“I have been informed that both on the side of the state, as well as the defence they have been the victims of cyber bullying, including AI manipulation of video material that’s been placed in the public domain. I don’t take kindly to it. It undermines the court process.”
