Mother sold daughter to witch doctor for £850

Telegraph

29-05-2025

A South African mother accused of selling her missing six-year-old daughter to a traditional healer for £850 has been jailed for life.
Kelly Smith, her boyfriend and another accomplice were each given life sentences for the kidnapping and human trafficking of Joshlin Smith who went missing in February 2024.
In a trial that shocked the country, a witness said Smith told her she had sold her daughter for just £850 to a traditional healer and that the girl was desired for her 'eyes and skin'.
Joshlin remains missing nearly 16 months after her disappearance and the judge's verdict made no conclusions on who she had been sold to, or the details of what happened to her.
Dr Marcel van der Watt, an expert on human trafficking based in the US, said during a sentence hearing that whatever had happened to Joshlin, it was highly likely she had been abused after she had been trafficked.
The judge's verdict did not conclude exactly what happened to Joshlin, but said she had been sold for slavery or practices similar to slavery, raising fears she may have been sold for forced labour, domestic servitude, or sexual abuse. There are also fears she may have been murdered.
Judge Nathan Erasmus, sentencing, said: 'There is nothing I can find that is redeeming and deserving of a lesser sentence than the harshest I can impose.'
Smith, her boyfriend Jacquen Appollis and Steveno van Rhyn, a friend of the couple, were each given life sentences for human trafficking and 10 years each for kidnapping.
The community at first rallied around Smith, whose full name is Racquel Chantel Smith, when her daughter went missing outside Saldanha Bay, around 75 miles north of Cape Town.
Photos showing Joshlin's green eyes, broad smile and brown pigtails flooded the internet.
Smith said she had left Joshlin with Appollis on the day she disappeared but she herself was arrested.
Her trial then heard a series of claims including from a local pastor who said that as far back as 2023, he had heard Smith talk of selling her children for 20,000 rand (£850) each.
Lourentia Lombaard, a witness who was a friend and neighbour of Smith, alleged Smith had told her she had sold Joshlin to a traditional healer, known in South Africa as a sangoma.
Ms Lombaard told the court – which was convened in a sports centre in Saldanha Bay – Smith had confessed: 'I did something silly ... I sold my child to a sangoma', adding that she had been driven by a desperate need for money.
Joshlin's mother promised those who were aware of the plan some money in return for their silence, she said.
Joshlin's teacher told the court that Smith had said during the search that her daughter was already 'on a ship, inside a container, and they were on the way to West Africa '.
Smith and her accomplices refused to testify or call any witnesses for their defence during the trial. The public gallery erupted in applause and cheers as the sentences were read out.
Police afterwards said they would continue searching for Joshlin.
Lt Gen Thembisile Patekile, Western Cape provincial police commissioner, said: 'Our thoughts remain with the family of Joshlin Smith. May they find some comfort in knowing that justice has prevailed.
'South African police service remains fully committed to exploring every possible lead in the pursuit of real closure in this tragic matter.'
Dr van der Watt said: 'This was not a spontaneous act but a calculated crime.
'The evidence paints a clear picture of deliberate exploitation and co-ordinated effort by the accused, and a breach of societal and legal obligations to safeguard the most vulnerable among us.
'The victim in this case, six-year-old Joshlin, very likely and plausibly suffered abuse.'