Joshlin Smith, of, Saldanha Bay, has been missing since 19 February. Image: Sourced
The search for six-year-old Joshlin Smith of Saldanha Bay has moved abroad after authorities received a tip-off that the girl was on a vessel bound for international waters, said Police Minister Bheki Cele.
“There is information that we need to verify [and] we are working with Interpol and sister organisations to find Joshlin,” he told reporters after attending a crime prevention imbizo in Hanover Park, Western Cape, on Sunday.
Joshlin disappeared on 19 February after her mother Kelly Smith alleged that she was sick and had stayed home from school.
Last week, Daily Maverick reported that a Gauteng couple, Mark and Anouschika Hageman, had provided a tip to the International Human Trafficking Hotline Web Chat, which led to the search of the Panamanian ship, Frontier Asuka. A two-day search of the ship docked at Port Talbot in Wales yielded no sign of the child.
On Sunday, Cele confirmed the Hagemans’ information that a vessel was searched for Joshlin.
Police are yet to release information relating to the bloodied items that were found in the Saldanha Bay district earlier this month.
Four suspects remain in custody in connection with the girl’s disappearance and will appear in court in May on charges of human trafficking and kidnapping.
According to the police, Lourentia Lombaard, the most recent suspect, arrested in March, who was reportedly the last person to see the child before she vanished, has “confessed” regarding the disappearance of Joshlin. But National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Eric Ntabazalila said information on the “confession” would only be provided at a later stage.
During her last court appearance, Lombaard — represented by LegalWise — abandoned her bail application. The case will be back in court on 15 May.
Two weeks after her daughter’s disappearance, police arrested Smith, her boyfriend Jacquen “Boeta” Appollis and Steveno van Rhyn. At their last appearance, Smith, Appolis and Van Rhyn also abandoned their bail applications. That matter has been postponed until 13 May.
According to figures released by the South African Police Service’s Missing Persons Bureau, a child goes missing every five hours in South Africa.
Missing Children South Africa’s statistics show that 77% of children are found but 23% of them are suspected to be trafficked or found dead.