Steveno van Rhyn, accused number two in the kidnapping and trafficking of Joslin Smith.
The second accused in the kidnapping and trafficking trial of Joslin Smith has told the Western Cape high court that he was not treated with “respect and dignity” by police while they were trying to ascertain the whereabouts of the then six-year-old.
Steveno van Rhyn was being led in evidence by his defence attorney, Nobahle Mkabayi, on Wednesday.
Van Rhyn took the stand this week after the testimony and cross examination of Jacquen “Boeta” Appollis, accused number one in the matter.
Describing the alleged “torture” he suffered at the hands of police at the Sea Border offices on the afternoon of 4 March 2024 and into the morning of 5 March, Van Rhyn said that after being allowed to use the bathroom, he was taken to an office where he saw Appollis “hanging”.
Before this, he heard “the screaming”, he told the court.
“When I saw Boeta hanging there, I pleaded with Sergeant [Dawid] Fortuin, saying to him I was telling the truth [about what happened on the day Joslin disappeared]. I was told my time was over. I was told to go and stand where Boeta was hanging.”
Once Appollis was taken down from his hanging position, said Van Rhyn, “I was told to take my sweater off, my takkies. They said I must lie on my back, bring my legs to my chest. Then they handcuffed me, and put a pipe under my knees”.
The men allege they were strung up, had plastic bags placed over their heads and were beaten by police, while several officers were watching.
He repeatedly denied knowing where Joslin was, Van Rhyn testified, but after each denial, he was told to “stop speaking shit” and the bag was again placed over his head, suffocating him until he nodded or shook his head, an indication he was ready to talk.
In their plea explanations, both men use exactly the same words to describe the alleged torture.
They, along with Joslin’s mother and Appollis’s partner, Kelly Smith, have been charged under the doctrine of common purpose for the kidnapping of Joslin on 19 February 2024 from the family’s Middelpos home in Saldanha, and allegedly selling her to a sangoma for her “eyes and skin”.
According to their “coerced confessions”, the men delivered Joslin to an alleged sangoma named Makalima on that date.
The child has not been seen since.
Van Rhyn and Appollis have both told the court they made false confessions because of the alleged police torture.
It is these “confessions” that have formed the basis of the current trial-within-a-trial.
Van Rhyn alleges that earlier on 4 March, he was hitchhiking from Vredenburg to Saldanha Bay when he was offered a lift in a white bakkie which, unbeknownst to him, was being driven by police officers.
He alleges he was driven to Jacobs Bay beach, handcuffed, and taken to the back of the bakkie. Police then allegedly started to assault him, he said, demanding that he tell them where Joslin was.
After this, he was taken to the Sea Border officers, where Appollis was, and both were tortured until they eventually made their confessions, saying that Smith was paid R20 000 by Makalima for Joslin, and that Appollis and Van Rhyn walked Joslin to Makalima to be sold.
Makalima appears to refer to Phumza Sigaqa, who was arrested on 5 March 2024 and appeared in court twice in the early days of the investigation as the alleged sangoma Joslin was sold to.
Charges against her were withdrawn because there was no evidence implicating her in the child’s disappearance. Sigaqa has not yet been called as a witness and it is unclear if she will be.
Both men have also told the court that they saw two female police officers torturing Makalima.
Prior evidence from the doctors who examined Appollis and Van Rhyn before and after their police interviews on 4 March, did not point to any assault or torture.
During cross-examination of Appollis on Tuesday, he told the court that he added his own details to a “made up story” the police had allegedly told him to tell Makalima, which would implicate her in the kidnapping and sale of Joslin.
He had added the details so that the made-up story “flowed better”, he said. “I had to make it sound like a real story”.
The matter continues.