The shack in Middelpos, Saldanha Bay, where Joshlin lived with her mother Kelly and her
three-year-old sister. (David Harrison/MG)
The case against the three remaining accused in seven-year-old Joshlin Smith’s disappearance is ready to be transferred to the Western Cape high court for a pre-trial hearing on 31 January 2025.
“The matter has been transferred in terms of section 75 of the Criminal Procedure Act to the high court,” state prosecutor Aradhana Heeramun said in a court appearance on Monday.
The state also said it had chosen to withdraw charges against accused number four, Lourentia Lombaard, without citing the reason.
It is understood that Lombaard has turned state witness in the matter.
Lombaard, Joshlin’s mother Kelly Smith, her boyfriend Jacquen “Boeta” Appolis and Stevano van Rhyn, appeared in the Vredenburg magistrate’s court on Monday on charges of trafficking for the purpose of exploitation and kidnapping relating to Joshlin’s disappearance. Lombaard’s charges were withdrawn.
The judge ruled that the accused would stay in custody until then.
Joshlin vanished from her home in the Middelpos informal settlement in Saldanha Bay on 19 February. At the time of her daughter’s disappearance, Smith told the police that when she returned home after being out for the day, she could not find the child.
The accused were arrested on 5 March after community members raised suspicions about Smith and her accomplices. At the time of her arrest, Smith told police that she had left Joshlin in the care of Appolis.
In March, state prosecutor Jacques van Wyk said Lombaard had confessed, without saying what she had confessed to. Lombaard was allegedly the last person to see the child before she disappeared.
Charges against traditional healer Phumza Sigaqa, who was alleged to have been involved in Joshlin’s disappearance, were dropped, due to lack of evidence.
In September, National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Eric Ntabazalila told reporters outside court that new evidence had come to light but it was only once investigations were complete that the matter would be enrolled at the high court.