Brigadier Leon Hanana during cross-examination on Wednesday
Two senior Western Cape police officers found themselves on the defensive this week, distancing their departments from allegations that suspects in the Joslin Smith kidnapping and trafficking trial were violently coerced into making confessions.
The officers — and their subordinates — denied any role in what defence lawyers say were acts of torture that led to false confessions by two of the three accused.
Brigadier Leon Hanana, head of the province’s Serious and Violent Crimes Unit, testified in the Western Cape high court, sitting in Saldanha Bay, that he had neither witnessed nor sanctioned any physical abuse during the interrogations of Jacquen “Boeta” Appollis and Steveno van Rhyn, accused one and two in the high-profile case.
Both men have claimed they were tortured during lengthy overnight questioning in early March 2024.
“I was not part of the operational interviews,” Hanana told the court under cross-examination. “If anything like that had happened in front of me, I would have acted — either through disciplinary action or criminal charges.”
The courtroom exchange unfolded during a trial-within-a-trial to determine whether the men’s confessions were admissible in court.
Defence lawyers argued that the alleged abuse from 4 March and the early hours of 5 March amounted to torture, after which both men made their false confessions. They also contend neither Appollis or Van Rhyn were read their rights.
Van Rhyn’s attorney, Nobahle Mkabayi, said her client was unknowingly picked up by undercover officers and taken to a remote beach where the abuse began, before being transferred to the Sea Border offices, where it allegedly continued until 2am or 3am on 5 March.
“Did you hear screams that night?” Mkabayi asked Hanana, who claimed he was in a different office at the time of the interview.
“No, I did not hear any screams,” he replied.
When asked whether the interview had taken place on his instruction, Hanana deflected: “My role was strategic, not operational. The lead investigator was responsible for interviews.”
That lead investigator is Captain Wesley Lombard, a 22-year veteran of the province’s Organised Crime Unit and a member of the anti-kidnapping task team, who reports to Hanana.
On Tuesday, Lombard also took the stand, offering similarly firm denials of misconduct. Under cross-examination by Mkabayi, he acknowledged inconsistencies in procedure, including the failure to record the questions he asked Van Rhyn or document the answers at the time of the interview.
Pressed on why there were no contemporaneous notes, Lombard responded that his questioning had been “specific and minimal”, and that he assumed his colleague, a sergeant — whom he saw with a clipboard — had taken notes.
Without records or signed statements from the interrogation itself, Mkabayi questioned the legitimacy of the interview. “What guarantee does this court have that the interview happened as you claim?” she asked.
“My words are that the interview took place,” Lombard responded. “It is mentioned in my statement.”
The disputed interviews resulted in statements that could be admitted as key evidence.
Prosecutors allege that Joslin’s mother, Kelly Smith — accused number three and partner to Appollis — sold her daughter to a sangoma for R20 000, with Van Rhyn and state witness Lourentia Lombaard receiving smaller amounts as hush money.
Joslin, who was last seen on 19 February while in Appollis’s care at the family’s Middelpos shack, remains missing. The three accused have pleaded not guilty and have denied involvement in the child’s disappearance. Smith has not alleged any mistreatment by the police.
Lombaard turned state witness late last year. Her testimony has formed a significant part of the prosecution’s case.
Also taking the stand this week was Sergeant Mzamo Mbovane, the officer who drove the vehicle carrying two of his colleagues and Van Rhyn to a mandatory physical examination, which took place after — according to Mkabayi — the alleged torture of her client had already occurred.
Inside the office of Dr Hendrik Nel at Vredenburg Provincial Hospital, where Mbovane was present during the examination, Van Rhyn reportedly told the physician he had sustained injuries, when asked. Mbovane testified that Van Rhyn attributed them to a fall from a friend’s bakkie the day before.
After the consultation, Van Rhyn was sent for X-rays, prescribed Panado and returned to the Sea Border offices to officially make his confession statement, but he allegedly “fell asleep” while there.
Dr Nel appeared via a video link on Thursday. When asked by Mkabayi if Van Rhyn’s injuries were consistent with falling off a bakkie, he said yes.
According to their plea explanations, the men were made to sit on the ground, knees pulled to their chests, arms around their knees, secured with handcuffs and a metal pipe secured under the knees. They were made to hang between two chairs, bags placed over their heads and were, for hours, repeatedly beaten.
During re-examination, prosecutor Aradhana Heeramun asked if the alleged torture described by both men would have resulted in more severe injuries.
Dr Nel said there would have been more severe bruising, everywhere.
But it was the testimony of Sergeant Felicia Johnson that garnered the ire of the feisty Mkabayi and Judge Nathan Erasmus this week.
Johnson was the officer responsible for booking the three accused into the Saldanha Bay police station, for their arrest statements, and for having them sign a notice of rights form.
Under cross-examination by Fanie Harmse, acting for Appollis, Johnson said she noticed Appollis had a blue eye, but didn’t inquire about it. (This was a day before Dr Nel’s testimony. During his testimony, the doctor said he noticed the eye, and that there was bleeding on the sclera. That was usually caused by trauma “like being hit by something,” he said.)
During her cross-examination, Mkabayi said Johnson was among the officers who tortured Van Rhyn.
“My client says when his head was covered, he could bite the plastic, and other plastics were added, while those plastics were being added, you fully participated in adding the plastics.”
Johnson denied the allegations.
Erasmus scolded Johnson during the cross-examination, intimating that, at best, her administrative skills were shoddy, and, at worst, there had been an attempt at manipulation of official police forms.
“We aren’t playing games here, these are people’s lives,” said the judge.
The court also heard from Colonel Edward Clark, a veteran with 32 years of service.
Clark, with the Western Cape Serious and Violent Crimes Unit, wasn’t involved in the investigation, but was asked by Hanana to take Van Rhyn’s confession statement on 5 March. This is allegedly just hours after Van Rhyn was tortured.
The start of Clark’s recorded interaction with the suspect was played in the courtroom, where he explained to Van Rhyn his rights and told him he could ask for a lawyer to be present. It also documents Van Rhyn filling in all necessary forms up to that point.
Clark said he cut the interview short because Van Rhyn had said he was hungry, tired and needed to take medication.
“Medical condition, my lord, he was hungry and needed to take pills, so I wasn’t going to go any further,” he told the court.
Mkabayi said her client was injured — not a medical condition — because of the “torture” the night before and into the early hours.
“He did not state that to me,” said Clark. “It wasn’t even brought to my attention.”
The courtroom was not only the stage for legal arguments this week, but also a place where the pressure of public opinion and digital scrutiny came to a head.
Opening Tuesday’s session, Judge Erasmus addressed what he called an online campaign of cyberharassment directed at the court, prosecutors and defence lawyers.
“There are individuals using artificial intelligence to manipulate publicly available material,” Erasmus said.
“It undermines the court process and causes unnecessary suspicion in the minds of the public.”
Although he did not name the individuals or groups responsible, Erasmus made it clear he believed the cyberattacks were malicious, perhaps intended to destabilise the case or cast doubt on the credibility of those involved.
He said he had even seen false claims online suggesting he was involved in Joslin’s disappearance.
“Maybe it’s just the times we live in,” Erasmus said. “But we will not be distracted. We will not allow our work to be undermined.”
The matter continues.