In the latest Joshlin Smith news, Cape Town police confirmed that a new suspect has been added to the list of accused in the six-year-old’s disappearance.
Joshlin Smith latest news: Woman due in court on Monday, 18 March 2024
In a statement, police spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Malcolm Pojie confirmed that “a 32-year-old woman will appear in the Vredenburg Magistrates’ court tomorrow in connection with the disappearance of six-year-old Joshlin Smith.”
“Be advised that it is normal practice that during such intricate investigations, people of interest will be taken in for questioning or will be interviewed with the aim to solve such a case.
“As such, in the interest of solving this case and finding Joshlin, we cannot disclose operational detail and give a blow to blow account as the investigation into finding Joshlin Smith unfolds as this can potentially jeopardise ongoing investigation,” the police carefully shared.
All eyes will be zoomed in at the Vredenburg Magistrate’s Court, on Monday, for the first glance at the latest suspect reeled into the Joshlin Smith disappearance.
The six-year-old went missing on Monday, 19 February 2024, and thus far, three suspects, including her mother Racquel ‘Kelly’ Smith and her boyfriend Jacquen Appollis, have been charged with kidnapping and human trafficking.
A fourth accused, Phumza Siqaba, who played into the narrative around the six-year-old being sacrificed in a muti ritual was dropped from the case, when the quartet appeared in court, on Wednesday.
“We shall communicate with you should more people be charged to appear in a court of Law,” Lt-Col. Pojie said.
In an exclusive interview with eNCA, Appollis harkened back to Monday, 19 February 2024, to recount the timeline of events that took place from 08:00 that morning, when Joshlin’s mother Kelly left him in the care of the six-year-old, and 18:00 when she returned home to find her daughter was nowhere to be found.
According to Appollis, his last recollection of seeing the Diazville Primary School pupil was at approximately 14:00.
“She told me she was going to play with a friend. That is the last time I saw her. I am really, really honest,” he said.
We now know on that day, Joshlin was kept at home due to a developing illness. However, at this time, neither Appollis nor Kelly have surfaced with details confirming the six-year-old was taken to a doctor or prescribed medication.
Instead of recovering at home, Joshlin Smith — Appollis insists — was allowed to play outside.
Reports have surfaced that the six-year-old was last seen playing with an unidentified boy near the Diazville Clinic. However, police working on the case have yet to lend credence to this claim.
Coincidentally, during the interview, Appollis confirmed he was “at home like normal,” shortly before 18:00 on that Monday. This contradicts assertions made by Kelly that she had struggled to get hold of her boyfriend around the time concern grew about her daughter’s whereabouts.
According to Kelly, when she returned from work, neither Appollis nor Joshlin Smith was at home, and when the boyfriend finally turned up, he was without the six-year-old left in his care.
“When I left at home, it was like every [other] day. They like to go and play. They like to be around, just in our area. There wasn’t something different about that date,” Kelly recalled in an earlier interview.
Kelly told reporters that after searching for Joshlin for three hours, she contacted police to file a missing person case.
However, Appollis’s account was different. According to the boyfriend, he was at home when Kelly returned from work.
“Until her mother got home at 6pm, then we got concerned. Then we started looking and we didn’t find her, until we called the police,” he said.
It will be almost a month to the day of Joshlin’s disappearance when the case returns to court on Monday.