Four suspects accused in the disappearance of Joshlin Smith were unmasked at the Vredenburg Magistrate’s Court, on Thursday.
Joshlin Smith mother, boyfriend and two other suspects appear in court
Kelly Smith, Joshlin’s mother, and her boyfriend, Jacquen Appollis, were finally unveiled as suspects in the disappearance of the six-year-old, alongside an unidentified woman and another man.
Thursday’s court proceedings were brief. Each of the accused registered their legal representations and the matter was postponed to Wednesday, 13 March 2024, for bail information.
This is a common formality in South African courts where the accused, with the assistance of a legal representative, provides physical addresses and contact information of the residence they will occupy in the event their bail application is approved.
Of course, conditional release is subject to the court’s determination that the accused’s release:
- will not hinder the ongoing case; and, more importantly
- is in the interest of justice.
Outside the courtroom, large crowds had gathered to boycott the suspects’ appearance.
When Kelly Smith, Jacquen Appollis and the two other suspects emerged from the court to be transported back to holding cells, angry protesters chanted “Joshlin!” as a sign of frustration over the mother’s alleged involvement in her daughter’s disappearance.
Joshlin Smith has been missing since Monday, 19 February 2024.
Versions of her last sighting from Kelly and Jacquen, which are now cast under an entirely different light, placed the six-year-old outside their home, playing with friends until she bizarrely dropped off the face of the earth at approximately 14:00 that day.
Kelly and her boyfriend insisted that they played no part in Joshlin’s disappearance, but following an intense 36-hour interrogation, it appears that at least Jacquen and the second male suspect grew a conscience and admitted to their role in selling the six-year-old to a traditional healer for muti purposes.
Kelly, it seems, has remained unmoved in her assertions that she played no part in her daughter’s disappearance.
The latest update in the search for Joslin came from Patriotic Alliance (PA) leader Gayton McKenzie, who suggested that investigators were focused on an informal settlement in Saldanha Bay, occupied by a community of traditional healers.
“We found an abandoned vehicle with open doors deep in the veld, the veld is apparently a place where sangomas gather and do rituals. We found burning candles in the bushes. Community were not allowed to search huts there as they need permission & warrant.
“The police interrogated the vehicle owner, we tracked him to his house where he refused the people entry. Knysna, George, Oudtshoorn, Koukamma, Bitou all had masses of people helping to look for anything suspicious and rallied their police to have roadblocks everywhere. The police has all the information, they are looking at camera footages of filling station and surrounding areas. We are now awaiting to see if the cops found anything on video footage, warrants etc,” he wrote.
Authorities are operating with the belief that Joshlin is still alive.