Guilty: Smith, Appollis and Van Rhyn convicted in Joshlin Smith case

Outside Court during the Joshlin Smith kidnapping trial at White City Multipurpose Centre on May 02, 2025 in Saldanha Bay, South Africa. The three accused of kidnapping and trafficking a Grade 1 Diazville Primary School learner learn of their fate as Judge Erasmus hands down judgement. (Photo: Gallo Images / Brenton Geach)

By Vincent Cruywagen

2 May 2025

Racquel ‘Kelly’ Smith, Jacquen Appollis and Steveno van Rhyn have been found guilty on charges of kidnapping and human trafficking regarding the disappearance of Joshlin Smith.

Judgment in the Joshlin Smith case was handed down by Judge Nathan Erasmus on Friday, 2 May, in the Western Cape Division of the High Court sitting in Saldanha Bay, bringing an end to the eight-week trial that commenced on Monday, 3 March 2025.

The three accused were convicted on counts of trafficking in persons and kidnapping stemming from the disappearance of Joshlin on Monday, 19 February 2024.

The judgment elicited jubilation from the crowd who attended the proceedings.

Jacquen Appollis at the White City Multipurpose Centre. (Photo: Gallo Images / Brenton Geach)

Stevano van Rhyn during proceedings on 2 May. (Photo: Gallo Images / Brenton Geach)

Judge Nathan Erasmus delivered a guilty verdict for all three accused. (Photo: Gallo Images / Brenton Geach)

Police Commissioner Lieutenant-General Thembisile Patekile (left) and other members of the police. (Photo: Gallo Images / Brenton Geach)

Kelly Smith's mother Amanda Daniel-Smith at the trial. (Photo: Gallo Images / Brenton Geach)

People wearing T-shirts of Joshlin Smith outside the court. (Photo: Gallo Images / Brenton Geach)

Joshlin’s mother, Racquel “Kelly” Smith, her boyfriend Jacquen Appollis, and their friend Steveno van Rhyn now face life imprisonment, the prescribed minimum sentence for human trafficking.

Smith’s mother, Amanda Daniel-Smith, who sat in the Saldanha Bay Multipurpose Centre’s first row listening to Erasmus, said she was happy with the judgment but disappointed not to know what happened to Joshlin, who was six years old when she disappeared and remains missing.

Smith started to cry immediately after the judgment was handed down. “I don't want anything to do with her,” she said about her daughter.

Joshlin’s paternal grandmother, Rita Yon, also attended court. Western Cape police boss Lieutenant-General Thembisile Patekile was also in attendance.

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The matter was postponed to 9 May when the court will sit in Cape Town to map out sentencing proceedings. At that juncture, the prosecutors and defence will lead evidence on aggravation and mitigation of circumstances.

Read more: Closing arguments in Joshlin Smith trial highlight flaws and contradictions in witness testimony

Smith, Appollis, and Van Rhyn pleaded not guilty and denied the allegations against them. The State alleged that they “sold, delivered or exchanged” Joshlin, a Grade 1 pupil at Diazville Primary, for money.

They were accused of selling Joshlin to a sangoma, who hasn’t been identified, for R20,000.

The trio chose to remain silent, deciding to neither take the stand nor call any witnesses in their defence.

Read more: Joshlin Smith judgment due Friday after defence says State failed to prove case beyond reasonable doubt

Reasons for judgment

Judge Erasmus found that the State had proven beyond a reasonable doubt that the accused were guilty of the charges against them.

State witness Laurentia Lombaard testified that Smith had told her and the other accused that she had sold Joshlin.

The evidence of evangelist Nico Coetzee added weight to her testimony. He testified about an encounter in August 2023 that he had with Smith, at which she allegedly told him that she planned to sell her children.

This is a developing story. DM

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Reasons for judgment