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"title": "Shocking testimony unveils Kelly Smith's alleged plot to sell six-year-old daughter Joshlin to a sangoma",
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"contents": "<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Close to 200 people, including Joshlin Smith’s father, Jose Emke, and paternal grandmother, Rita Yon, gathered in the Western Cape High Court, sitting in the Saldanha Bay Multipurpose Centre, on Friday, 14 March, to hear Lourentia Lombaard’s testimony. </span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lombaard, who was initially accused number four in the kidnapping and human trafficking trial, detailed how Joshlin Smith’s mother Racquel “Kelly” Smith, allegedly plotted to sell the six-year-old to a sangoma for R20,000.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This gives weight to the State’s contention that the alleged kidnapping and human trafficking of Joshlin was premeditated.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lombaard was charged along with Kelly, her boyfriend Jacquen “Boeta” Appollis, and their friend Steveno van Rhyn, who have pleaded not guilty to human trafficking and kidnapping. Lombaard later turned state witness. </span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Joshlin </span><a href=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2024-02-27-police-scale-down-search-for-six-year-old-joslin-smith-after-a-week-with-no-leads/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">went missing</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> from the Middelpos informal settlement in Saldanha Bay on 19 February 2024. Smith claimed she went to work that day, leaving Joshlin with Appollis. She claimed that Joshlin wasn’t there when she returned.</span>\r\n\r\n<b>Read more: </b><a href=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2025-03-11-family-history-of-abuse-addiction-and-neglect-laid-bare-in-joshlin-smith-trial/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Family history of abuse, addiction and neglect laid bare in Joshlin Smith trial</span></a>\r\n\r\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-2633071 size-full\" src=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/IMG_0660.jpg\" alt=\"State witness Lorentia Lombaard\" width=\"1849\" height=\"1125\" /> <em>State witness Lourentia Lombaard telling the Western Cape High sitting in Saldanha Bay Multipurpose centre, about the events that transpired on 18 February 2024, a day before Joshlin Smith disappeared. (Photo: Vincent Cruywagen)</em></p>\r\n<h4><b>Sold to a sangoma</b></h4>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">According to Lombaard, on Sunday, 18 February 2024, after lunch, she was on her way to Kelly’s shack. She eavesdropped on Kelly and Boeta while passing a window Kelly supposedly smashed during an earlier altercation with Boeta on the same day.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lombaard claimed she heard Kelly allegedly tell Boeta that someone was looking for Joshlin. Boeta wasn’t interested and allegedly said he didn't have time to listen to her nonsense.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lombaard further testified that she heard Kelly receiving a phone call and speaking in English.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">All that Lombaard could hear was Kelly saying that she was coming now. Lombaard said Kelly and Joshlin left their home and walked to a white Polo car that was waiting for them not far from the informal settlement.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Eager to find out what was going on, Lombaard continued to watch Kelly from a distance.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“I saw a woman, dressed like a sangoma, alighting and talking to Kelly and Joshlin. I saw the sangoma handing Kelly something, which she slid into the front of her pants,” Lombaard told the court.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">She claimed the sangoma was a short, black woman with white dots on her face, a band on her head and wearing a green dress.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lombaard said she continued to follow Kelly and Joshlin as they made their way home.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">She claims she was again standing outside Kelly’s home and heard her allegedly tell Boeta: “Here is the money the sangoma gave for Joshlin.”</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">She told the court Boeta wanted to know how much it was. Kelly allegedly said R20,000.</span>\r\n\r\n<b>Read more: </b><a href=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2025-03-12-joshlin-smiths-mother-talked-of-plans-for-daughter-to-be-taken-months-before-disappearance/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Joshlin Smith’s mother ‘talked of plans for daughter to be taken months before disappearance’</span></a>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">At that moment, Lombaard, also known as “Renz”, went towards the open door where she encountered Van Rhyn.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“I asked Kelly what was going on. Her words to me were, “Renz, I did something </span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">kak</span></i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and I have just sold Joshlin to a sangoma. I asked why she did it and her words were: ‘I was in need of money and struggling,’” Lombaard told the court.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">According to Lombaard, the other accused, Van Rhyn and Boeta, were also inside the shack at the time. Boeta then allegedly enquired what she was going to do with the money.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lombaard said Kelly told her she would get R1,000, apparently for her silence, Van Rhyn R1,200, and the rest of the money split between Kelly and Boeta. Lombaard said she was never paid.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“We agreed on the money and that we will not talk about this to anyone or report it to the police and that Kelly would report her child as missing,” she testified.</span>\r\n\r\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-2633070 size-full\" src=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/IMG_20250306_122519.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1792\" height=\"1116\" /> <em>State witness Lourentia Lombaard testified that on Sunday, 18 February 2024, from behind these rocks in Middelpos in Saldanha Bay, she saw a Sangoma give something to Kelly Smith. (Photo: Vincent Cruywagen)</em></p>\r\n<h4><b>A bag for Joshlin</b></h4>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lombaard said Kelly prepared a bag for Joshlin, including pants, a sweater and underwear for Joshlin, who the sangoma was allegedly due to pick up at 2pm the next day.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lombaard stated that after 2pm the next day, 19 February 2024, she saw Kelly and Joshlin carrying the bag and walking towards the canal.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“I saw Kelly and Joshlin walking to a white Polo standing on a gravel road, not far from Kelly’s home. I saw a woman alighted the car and Kelly and this woman talked. This woman opened the back door of the car and Kelly and Joshlin got into the back of the car.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“The woman got back in the front of the vehicle and drove off towards an area called the Block in Diazville…”</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Police had previously arrested a supposed sangoma, </span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Phumza Sigaqa</span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, in the case, before </span><a href=\"https://www.iol.co.za/news/crime-and-courts/where-is-joshlin-angry-residents-seek-truth-as-kelly-smith-appears-for-daughters-kidnapping-9a2ebf19-2948-4f2b-b1c7-bd08100f7da2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">dropping charges</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Her family said she was not a sangoma and did not know Kelly. </span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">At the time of publishing, Lombaard was still explaining what transpired on 19 February 2024, the day Joshlin went missing. Court was adjourned until Monday, 17 March. </span><b>DM</b>",
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"name": "On Friday, 14 March, State witness Lorentia Lombaard testified that on Sunday, 18 February 2024, from behind these rocks in Middelpos in Saldanha Bay, she saw a Sangoma give something to Kelly Smith. (Photo: Vincent Cruywagen)",
"description": "<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Close to 200 people, including Joshlin Smith’s father, Jose Emke, and paternal grandmother, Rita Yon, gathered in the Western Cape High Court, sitting in the Saldanha Bay Multipurpose Centre, on Friday, 14 March, to hear Lourentia Lombaard’s testimony. </span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lombaard, who was initially accused number four in the kidnapping and human trafficking trial, detailed how Joshlin Smith’s mother Racquel “Kelly” Smith, allegedly plotted to sell the six-year-old to a sangoma for R20,000.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This gives weight to the State’s contention that the alleged kidnapping and human trafficking of Joshlin was premeditated.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lombaard was charged along with Kelly, her boyfriend Jacquen “Boeta” Appollis, and their friend Steveno van Rhyn, who have pleaded not guilty to human trafficking and kidnapping. Lombaard later turned state witness. </span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Joshlin </span><a href=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2024-02-27-police-scale-down-search-for-six-year-old-joslin-smith-after-a-week-with-no-leads/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">went missing</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> from the Middelpos informal settlement in Saldanha Bay on 19 February 2024. Smith claimed she went to work that day, leaving Joshlin with Appollis. She claimed that Joshlin wasn’t there when she returned.</span>\r\n\r\n<b>Read more: </b><a href=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2025-03-11-family-history-of-abuse-addiction-and-neglect-laid-bare-in-joshlin-smith-trial/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Family history of abuse, addiction and neglect laid bare in Joshlin Smith trial</span></a>\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_2633071\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"1849\"]<img class=\"wp-image-2633071 size-full\" src=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/IMG_0660.jpg\" alt=\"State witness Lorentia Lombaard\" width=\"1849\" height=\"1125\" /> <em>State witness Lourentia Lombaard telling the Western Cape High sitting in Saldanha Bay Multipurpose centre, about the events that transpired on 18 February 2024, a day before Joshlin Smith disappeared. (Photo: Vincent Cruywagen)</em>[/caption]\r\n<h4><b>Sold to a sangoma</b></h4>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">According to Lombaard, on Sunday, 18 February 2024, after lunch, she was on her way to Kelly’s shack. She eavesdropped on Kelly and Boeta while passing a window Kelly supposedly smashed during an earlier altercation with Boeta on the same day.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lombaard claimed she heard Kelly allegedly tell Boeta that someone was looking for Joshlin. Boeta wasn’t interested and allegedly said he didn't have time to listen to her nonsense.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lombaard further testified that she heard Kelly receiving a phone call and speaking in English.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">All that Lombaard could hear was Kelly saying that she was coming now. Lombaard said Kelly and Joshlin left their home and walked to a white Polo car that was waiting for them not far from the informal settlement.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Eager to find out what was going on, Lombaard continued to watch Kelly from a distance.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“I saw a woman, dressed like a sangoma, alighting and talking to Kelly and Joshlin. I saw the sangoma handing Kelly something, which she slid into the front of her pants,” Lombaard told the court.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">She claimed the sangoma was a short, black woman with white dots on her face, a band on her head and wearing a green dress.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lombaard said she continued to follow Kelly and Joshlin as they made their way home.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">She claims she was again standing outside Kelly’s home and heard her allegedly tell Boeta: “Here is the money the sangoma gave for Joshlin.”</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">She told the court Boeta wanted to know how much it was. Kelly allegedly said R20,000.</span>\r\n\r\n<b>Read more: </b><a href=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2025-03-12-joshlin-smiths-mother-talked-of-plans-for-daughter-to-be-taken-months-before-disappearance/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Joshlin Smith’s mother ‘talked of plans for daughter to be taken months before disappearance’</span></a>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">At that moment, Lombaard, also known as “Renz”, went towards the open door where she encountered Van Rhyn.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“I asked Kelly what was going on. Her words to me were, “Renz, I did something </span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">kak</span></i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and I have just sold Joshlin to a sangoma. I asked why she did it and her words were: ‘I was in need of money and struggling,’” Lombaard told the court.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">According to Lombaard, the other accused, Van Rhyn and Boeta, were also inside the shack at the time. Boeta then allegedly enquired what she was going to do with the money.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lombaard said Kelly told her she would get R1,000, apparently for her silence, Van Rhyn R1,200, and the rest of the money split between Kelly and Boeta. Lombaard said she was never paid.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“We agreed on the money and that we will not talk about this to anyone or report it to the police and that Kelly would report her child as missing,” she testified.</span>\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_2633070\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"1792\"]<img class=\"wp-image-2633070 size-full\" src=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/IMG_20250306_122519.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1792\" height=\"1116\" /> <em>State witness Lourentia Lombaard testified that on Sunday, 18 February 2024, from behind these rocks in Middelpos in Saldanha Bay, she saw a Sangoma give something to Kelly Smith. (Photo: Vincent Cruywagen)</em>[/caption]\r\n<h4><b>A bag for Joshlin</b></h4>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lombaard said Kelly prepared a bag for Joshlin, including pants, a sweater and underwear for Joshlin, who the sangoma was allegedly due to pick up at 2pm the next day.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lombaard stated that after 2pm the next day, 19 February 2024, she saw Kelly and Joshlin carrying the bag and walking towards the canal.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“I saw Kelly and Joshlin walking to a white Polo standing on a gravel road, not far from Kelly’s home. I saw a woman alighted the car and Kelly and this woman talked. This woman opened the back door of the car and Kelly and Joshlin got into the back of the car.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“The woman got back in the front of the vehicle and drove off towards an area called the Block in Diazville…”</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Police had previously arrested a supposed sangoma, </span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Phumza Sigaqa</span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, in the case, before </span><a href=\"https://www.iol.co.za/news/crime-and-courts/where-is-joshlin-angry-residents-seek-truth-as-kelly-smith-appears-for-daughters-kidnapping-9a2ebf19-2948-4f2b-b1c7-bd08100f7da2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">dropping charges</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Her family said she was not a sangoma and did not know Kelly. </span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">At the time of publishing, Lombaard was still explaining what transpired on 19 February 2024, the day Joshlin went missing. Court was adjourned until Monday, 17 March. </span><b>DM</b>",
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"summary": "Missing six-year-old Joshlin Smith was allegedly sold to a sangoma to relieve parental financial pressure, her mother Kelly’s friend Lourentia Lombaard told the Western Cape High Court. \r\n",
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State witness Lourentia Lombaard telling the Western Cape High sitting in Saldanha Bay Multipurpose centre, about the events that transpired on 18 February 2024, a day before Joshlin Smith disappeared. (Photo: Vincent Cruywagen)
State witness Lourentia Lombaard testified that on Sunday, 18 February 2024, from behind these rocks in Middelpos in Saldanha Bay, she saw a Sangoma give something to Kelly Smith. (Photo: Vincent Cruywagen)