A South African mother and her two accomplices have been sentenced to life imprisonment for trafficking her six-year-old daughter, a case that has gripped the nation since the child went missing last year.
Kelly Smith, along with her boyfriend Jacquen Appollis and their associate Steveno Van Rhyn, were convicted of kidnapping and trafficking young Joshlin Smith, who disappeared from her hometown in the Western Cape.
The sentencing hearing, held at the Western Cape High Court in Saldanha Bay on May 29, 2025, saw Appollis and Van Rhyn listening as Judge Nathan Erasmus handed down the sentences.
The courtroom was filled with emotion as the disturbing details of the case resurfaced.
During the trial, a witness testified that Kelly Smith admitted to selling her daughter to a sangoma, a traditional healer, for 20,000 rand (approximately $1,100). The child was reportedly sought after for her “eyes and skin.”
Despite an intensive search by authorities, Joshlin remains missing, and the mystery surrounding her fate continues to haunt the community.
Judge Erasmus, in delivering the ruling, dismissed any notion of leniency based on the trio’s drug use.
“There is nothing that I can find that is redeeming and deserving of a lesser sentence than the harshest I can impose,” Erasmus stated.
In addition to life imprisonment for the trafficking charge, all three were also sentenced to 10 years in prison for kidnapping.
