Joshlin ‘is here in the informal settlement’, Kelly Smith allegedly told her SAPS sister

Racquel “Kelly” Smith’s sister Mickeyla Daniels, a member of the SA Police Service, took the stand in the Joshlin Smith kidnapping and human trafficking case on Monday and testified how she questioned her sister after the six-year-old’s disappearance.

Daniels, a member of the SAPS Public Order Police unit in Upington, told the court she had four siblings, Smith being the eldest.

“Kelly grew up in Saldanha Bay with our grandmother while I lived in Aggeneys in Upington. We were not in contact a lot, but when I visited Saldanha we bonded like sisters. I wasn’t in contact with Kelly a lot because she constantly changed her phone numbers,” she told the court.

“When my parents were in Saldanha they would go and visit Kelly’s children or she brought them.”

Daniels told the court that she and Smith lost touch, but in December 2023, Smith contacted her sister via Facebook Messenger and she heard from her again on the same platform in January 2024.

Read more: Joshlin Smith’s mother ‘talked of plans for daughter to be taken months before disappearance’

Smith, her boyfriend, Jacquen “Boeta” Appollis, and their friend Steveno van Rhyn were charged with human trafficking for exploitation and kidnapping following Joshlin’s 19 February 2024 disappearance from the Middelpos informal settlement in Saldanha Bay. The State contends that they “sold, delivered or exchanged” Joshlin.

(From left:) Jacquen Appollis, Steveno van Rhyn and Racquel 'Kelly' Smith. (Photo: Vincent Cruywagen)

Joshlin is still missing.

The three have pleaded not guilty.

Smith has claimed she went to work on 19 February 2024 and left Joshlin with Appollis, and that Joshlin wasn’t there when she returned. However, the evidence offered so far by the State suggests that Smith’s version is implausible, with Smith’s employer saying she never arrived at work.

Conflicting versions

On 20 February 2024, one day after Joshlin went missing, Daniels’ mother told her about Joshlin’s disappearance and she received a WhatsApp voice note from Smith stating that Joshlin had gone missing and that she must call her.

Joshlin Smith. (Photo: Supplied)

The following day, Daniels asked Smith if she was at work on the day of Joshlin’s disappearance, what time she came home after work, why she did not send Joshlin to school, who was with the children, and whether Joshlin’s father, José Emke, and her grandmother Rita Yon had been informed.

Her sister responded that she was asking the same questions as the police.

Things took a dramatic turn on 26 February 2024 when Daniels asked her sister where Joshlin was.

Daniels testified that an emotional Smith told her: “Sister, my child is here in the informal settlement. Somebody wants to sell my child, but Saldanha is currently a hot spot.”

However, the following day when they spoke on the phone, said Daniels, Smith was laughing and in a happy mood, describing how Patriotic Alliance leader Gayton McKenzie bought clothes for her two other children.

Read more: Joshlin Smiths are everywhere, needing urgent intervention as adults fall apart

Daniels then mentioned a Facebook Live interview McKenzie conducted with Smith shortly after Joshlin’s disappearance in which Smith reportedly claimed her child was sold for R20,000. Daniels joined the video and said Smith had told her Joshlin was still in the informal settlement.

“Kelly then attacked me, saying I must stop lying and I won’t get a promotion.”

Smith’s lawyer Rinesh Sivnarain put it to Daniels that Smith wasn’t laughing on the phone about receiving clothes from McKenzie, which Daniels disputed. He also claimed Smith said Joshlin was still in Middelpos due to “motherly instinct”.

‘Sold to sangoma’

Daniels’ testimony followed the evidence and cross-examination of Laurentia Lombaard, who was initially a co-accused in the case before turning State witness.

Last week, Lombaard testified that Smith said she’d sold Joshlin to a sangoma for R20,000.

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

Laurentia Lombaard. (Photo: Vincent Cruywagen)

On Monday, Lombaard said that on the day that Joshlin disappeared, load shedding began in Saldanha at around 10pm. According to Lombaard, it was dark when Smith, their friend Niello and Appollis arrived with the police at her home.

Lombaard said Smith asked her where Joshlin was, to which she replied, “Why don’t you tell the police what you have done with your child?”

Lombaard said she next talked with Smith on 23 February 2024, after Smith returned home from work. She testified that Smith told her that someone had paid her to keep quiet.

“Kelly did not mention the person’s name. The individual who wanted Joshlin apparently wanted her eyes and skin.”

Joshlin is fair-skinned and has green eyes.

Asked by the prosecutor, advocate Zelda Swanepoel, what prompted her to testify against her friends, Lombaard said she told herself that she was going to speak the truth and no longer hide anything.

“I was unaware of the intention to sell Joshlin and only learned about it afterwards. I attempted to stop Kelly, but she wouldn’t listen. I humbly requested that the person(s) who has Joshlin to please return her, and I hoped that she was still alive,” Lombaard told the court.

The trial continues. DM