Court hears Kelly Smith's timeline of the day Joshlin went missing, with gaps in evidence

Daily Maverick

23-04-2025

In her warning statement given to police, Racquel 'Kelly' Smith provided a timeline of the day Joshlin Smith went missing. She didn't describe Joshlin's possible whereabouts, and the statement is inconsistent with evidence before the court.
'I'm going to write up what happened on the day's events,' said Racquel 'Kelly' Smith in a statement to police about 19 February 2024, the day her six-year-old daughter Joshlin Smith went missing, 'in my own handwriting.'
The statement, however, did not provide any clues to Joshlin's whereabouts.
On Tuesday, 22 April 2025, Smith's warning statement was entered into the record by State prosecutor Zelda Swanepoel in the Western Cape High Court, sitting in Saldanha Bay. Smith's counsel, Rinesh Sivnarain, had no objections.
Smith made the warning statement on 6 March 2024 after being interrogated by the investigating team between 4 and 5 March at the Family Violence, Child Protection, and Sexual Offences (FCS) offices on the Sea Border Office grounds in Saldanha Bay.
Similar statements were obtained from her co-accused, Jacquen Appollis and Steveno van Rhyn, on the same day. In their confessions, the two claimed that Smith told them to take Joshlin to a purported sangoma, Phumza Sigaqa, known as Makalima, who would have allegedly paid Smith R20,000.
On Thursday, 17 April, Judge Nathan Erasmus ruled that the confessions of Appollis and Van Rhyn were admissible and could be used as evidence against them.
Appollis, Van Rhyn and Smith face charges of human trafficking and kidnapping after Joshlin's disappearance from the Middelpos informal settlement in Saldanha Bay.
The three, who have pleaded not guilty, have denied the serious allegations against them. The State alleges that the accused 'sold, delivered or exchanged' Joshlin, a Grade 1 learner at Diazville Primary, for money.
Smith's timeline
On Tuesday, the court heard more details about Smith's version of what happened on the day Joshlin went missing. Her warning statement included more detail, particularly specific times, than her plea explanation in court.
The court did not deal with the entire statement, but only with the parts handwritten by Smith.
Her timeline of 19 February 2024, the day Joshlin went missing, reads:
7am: 'I got up and dressed my minor daughter and prepared myself for work.'
7.15am: 'I gave Joshlin and her minor brother food and told them their school clothes are dirty, so they won't go to school.'
8.15am: 'I took my other minor daughter and walked to Diazville, where I took her to the crèche. I got the keys and went to Kelly Zeegers' [where she was employed as a domestic worker] home to go and work.'
9am: Smith claims to have arrived at work.
11.30am: 'I borrowed R50 from aunt Carlien Zeegers and went to buy a packet of crystal methamphetamine known as tik, from [the dealer] Gums. Boeta and I smoked the tik alone.'
12.10pm: 'I finish[ed] and went back to work.'
12.30pm: 'I went and left [one of my other children] with her grandmother and went back to work.'
2pm: 'I finished working and dropped off the key.'
2.30pm: 'I went to go fetch my other minor daughter at the crèche.'
4.30pm: 'I borrowed R200 from aunt Carlien to refill gas.'
4.45pm: 'I arrived at home and asked Boeta, 'Where are the children?' He told me my minor son is with brother Louw and that Joshlin is around, her hair hanging loosely.'
5pm: 'I called out Joshlin and she did not respond.'
5.15pm: 'Boeta, Steveno and I went to go buy gas. Came back and again at Gums bought a packet of tik. We smoked it and then I called again out to Joshlin.'
6pm: Smith's minor son came home and she told him he had to call his sisters. He said he knew where his minor sister was, but he did not see Joshlin. He went to fetch his other sister
7pm: 'My neighbour and I went to go and look for Joshlin in Diazville.'
8.30pm: 'We were back in Middelpos and further looked for Joshlin.'
9pm: 'I called the police.'
9.30pm: 'The police came and we went to go and search for Joshlin.'
Smith's statement appears to contradict both State witness Laurentia Lombaard's version of what happened to Joshlin and evidence from Kelly Zeegers, at whose home Smith said she worked on that day.
Lombaard, who was initially accused number four in the kidnapping and human trafficking trial, told the court how Smith allegedly plotted to sell the six-year-old to a sangoma for R20,000.
Zeegers, however, told the court that Smith had not worked at her house at all on that day. CCTV footage has indicated that Smith was not at Zeegers' home.
Sangomas, seers and international help
On Tuesday, Captain Wesley Lombard, the investigating officer in the Joshlin case, told the court about the extensive and international hunt for the missing girl, which included satellite assistance, help from Interpol, and 'online researchers', so-called seers and sangomas.
'During the investigation, various seers approached the team with differing perspectives about Joshlin's whereabouts and what happened to her. Some of the seers were from our country, while others were from other countries. What was interesting about these seers is that every second day they basically come with information on Joshlin's whereabouts.
'People who introduced themselves as sangomas said they are going to use their traditional practices to help the police to determine where Joshlin might be or can get the body,' he told the court.
Other 'internet researchers' assisted the investigating team by analysing web content and reporting their results.
Lombard said people with access to satellites scanned the Diazville dunes and sent photographs to the authorities, revealing where items might be buried under the sand.
'We followed up on that information since they provided us with GPS locations. The K9 dog squad, as well as forensic professionals who analyse bones, were involved in the hunt. Again, no results,' he told the court.
The investigative team turned its attention to people in the area who had been convicted of crimes against minors and women. Again, this turned up no leads.
The team tried to find out whether CCTV in Diazville and the wider Saldanha Bay area could help.
'We found that there were no municipal cameras in the streets where Kelly lived, as there are in Cape Town. We located one camera in the area, but it only worked within the working site and did not capture footage of the streets,' he told the court.
Lombaard said the investigating team received information that Interpol, with the help of the UK's National Crime Agency (NCA), suspected that Joshlin may have been taken aboard a ship.
According to Lombard's testimony, on Saturday, 16 April 2024, the NCA informed SAPS they had boarded the ship after it docked in Port Talbot, Wales. The authorities searched the boat for nearly two days, but only 21 Philippines nationals were found on the vessel.
Lombard told the court the search for Joshlin continued.
State closes its case
On Tuesday, State prosecutor Swanepoel told the court that the State would close its case on Wednesday.
The outstanding issues to be dealt with are the TikTok videos that went viral on social media, which have been handed in as exhibits. Van Rhyn's counsel indicated that he wanted to see the videos, which will be played in court on Wednesday.
Judge Erasmus said that the court would also consider any section 174 petitions presented by counsel for the accused for the dismissal of charges against their clients based on the lack of evidence to substantiate the charges.
The matter continues. DM