Brother offers new evidence in Joshlin Smith case, casting doubt on key witness' testimony

Jacquen Appolis during the Joshlin Smith trial on Day 12 at the White City Multipurpose Centre on March 18, 2025 in Saldanha, South Africa. The suspects are facing charges of kidnapping and trafficking in the case of the Grade 1 Diazville Primary School learner who was last seen on February 19th wearing a light blue T-shirt and light blue denim shorts. (Photo: Gallo Images/Die Burger/Jaco Marais)

By Vincent Cruywagen

24 Mar 2025

The State’s key witness in the Joshlin Smith kidnapping and human trafficking trial, Laurentia Lombaard, wasn’t at the family’s shack on the morning the six-year-old went missing, according to Joshlin’s brother.

Joshlin Smith’s brother has allegedly told police in a statement that the State’s star witness, Laurentia Lombaard, was not in their home in the early hours of 19 February 2024, when the plan to sell Joshlin and how the money would be split was discussed, according to Lombaard, but arrived after Racquel “Kelly” Smith had already left for work.

This startling piece of evidence was used by advocate Fanie Harmse, who was representing Kelly’s boyfriend Jacquen “Boeta” Appollis, while cross-examining Lombaard in the trial heard in the Western Cape Division of the High Court, sitting in the Saldanha Bay Multipurpose Centre, before Judge Nathan Erasmus on Monday, 24 March 2024.

Monday’s proceedings focused on what happened in the shack where Kelly, Appollis, and her three children lived on the morning of 19 February 2024. Lombaard’s evidence and statement show that she arrived early that morning at the shack.

However, Harmse released the evidence from Kelly’s 10-year-old son on Monday refuting Lombaard’s claims.

According to Harmse, Joshlin’s minor brother started to tell the police that Lombaard had not been present, as she claimed.

Kelly, Appollis and their friend Steveno van Rhyn face charges of human trafficking for exploitation and kidnapping following Joshlin’s disappearance from the Middelpos informal settlement in Saldanha Bay.

The State contends that they “sold, delivered or exchanged” Joshlin, and the court heard evidence from Lombaard that Kelly had allegedly sold Joshlin for R20,000 to a sangoma.

Read more: Shocking testimony unveils Kelly Smith’s alleged plot to sell six-year-old daughter Joshlin to a sangoma

The three have pleaded not guilty.

Lombaard was initially in the dock with the trio but turned against them when she abandoned her bail application and turned State witness.

Kelly’s son’s statement

Harmse continued to poke holes in Lombaard’s evidence on Monday, arguing that her interpretation of the events that led to Joshlin’s disappearance was far from accurate.

Lombaard has testified that early on the morning of 19 February 2024, she went to Kelly’s and Appollis’s shack to discuss how the money was supposed to be split and if the plan to sell Joshlin was going ahead as planned.

Lombaard also claimed that Van Rhyn was present during the discussion and that Joshlin and her minor brother and sister were present in the shack when the discussion took place.

She was flabbergasted when Harmse put it to her that her version was far-fetched.

He then told the court that Joshlin’s 10-year-old brother had made a statement to the police wherein he claimed that Lombaard was not at their home before 7am, but arrived when Kelly had already left for work and took her other minor daughter to crèche.

Kelly Smith on Day 12 of the trial. (Photo: Gallo Images / Die Burger / Jaco Marais)

Jacquen Appollis on Day 12 at the Saldanha Bay Multipurpose Centre. (Photo: Gallo Images / Die Burger / Jaco Marais)

Lombaard informed the court that she was not aware of this statement and that it was the first time she had heard it.

Harmse and State prosecutor Zelda Swanepoel agreed to save the child from the pain of being called to the stand.

However, Judge Erasmus underlined that ultimately he had to decide if he would call the child to the stand because the statement must be interrogated.

The court also heard that another child, one of Joshlin’s friends, had told the police that when she returned from school on 19 February, she saw Joshlin playing outside.

This, according to Harmse, places in doubt Lombaard’s version that she saw Kelly and Joshlin making their way to a VW Polo where the sangoma was waiting to collect Joshlin on the day she disappeared. The prosecution disputed the precise time that the minor girl claimed to have seen Joshlin playing.

Appollis denies being part of plot

According to Lombaard’s testimony, she allegedly overheard Kelly and Appollis talking about the plan to sell Joshlin, and she agreed to keep silent for R1,000, while Van Rhyn was due to get R1,200.

Lombaard claimed she went to Kelly’s house early on 19 February 2024, and Appollis and Van Rhyn were smoking drugs in their small shack while the children were there.

Appollis, via his counsel, said: “I denied that I was part of any plan to sell Joshlin. Kelly didn’t tell anything about a plan and Lombaard has told the court that the drugs are not the truth.”

Lombaard responded: “It is not the truth what Boeta said.”

Harmse again referred to discrepancies in Lombaard’s evidence but was stopped in his tracks by Judge Erasmus, who told him that the court had dealt with that part of the evidence and heard that Lombaard claimed she was confused, afraid and high on drugs in the week before making a confession relating to the missing girl.

Read More: Defence casts doubt on Laurentia Lombaard’s testimony in Joshlin Smith trial

Lombaard’s various statements are littered with discrepancies, and she claims that when she gave the confession she was terrified, confused, did not trust Cilliers, and had been using drugs for a week before being taken in for questioning by police, and was not in a sober mind.

Harmse finished his cross-examination of Lombaard on Monday morning and Van Rhyn’s team began its cross-examination. The trial began on Monday, 3 March 2025, and is scheduled to run until Friday, 28 March 2025. DM

This article was updated at 15:17 on 24 March 2025 to correct the age of Joshlin Smith's brother. He is 10-years-old, not 11-years-old as originally reported.

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Kelly’s son’s statement

Appollis denies being part of plot