Lourentia Lombard, the fourth accused in the disappearance of six-year-old Joshlin Smith is expected back in court, on Monday.
Joshlin Smith case returns to Vredenburg Magistrate’s Court
This will mark the 32-year-old’s second appearance since her arrest last week.
On Monday, the court is expected to learn if Lombard intends to file a bail application.
But with tensions palpable in the Saldanha Bay community, it’s very much possible that she too will rip a page from Kelly Smith’s playbook and rescind her bail rights.
Thus far, the state has not, at this time, revealed much about the evidence collected against Lombard, or the degree of her involvement in the alleged kidnapping and trafficking of the six-year-old from Diazville.
However, at her first court appearance, state prosecutors informed the court that charges were brought against Lombard after she made a voluntary confession to her role in the Joshlin Smith disappearance.
Tune into the proceedings live right here:
The main Joshlin Smith case will return to court on 13 May 2024.
Five things to know about Lourentia Lombard
Lourentia Lombard is a known Diazville local, whose background is marked by adversity. Here are five things to know about her:
- She is a native of Wolseley, a settlement situated near the Wittebrug Nature Reserve.
- Lombard was raised in a stable home with three other siblings. She went to church, attended Sunday school and “never lacked money or attention.”
- She left the farm life shortly after her father passed away 11 years ago and moved more than 125km west to Saldanha Bay, to seek greener pastures.
- Lombard may have attracted the wrong crowd and, ultimately, played a part in one of the most publicised child disappearances in South African history.
- “She was very well-mannered and beautiful, I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw how she looked now,” a source revealed.