Keypoints:
- Joshlin Smith’s mother sentenced to life
- Girl allegedly sold for R20,000 still missing
- Judge calls case ‘devoid of redeeming features’
A SOUTH African mother has been sentenced to life in prison for trafficking her six-year-old daughter, Joshlin Smith, who vanished over a year ago and has never been found.
Racquel ‘Kelly’ Smith, 35, was convicted alongside her boyfriend Jacquen Appollis and their friend Steveno Van Rhyn for kidnapping and human trafficking in a Western Cape court. All three received life sentences for trafficking, plus 10 years each for kidnapping, Judge Nathan Erasmus ruled on Thursday.
The ruling follows a two-month trial that captivated South Africa, exposing the harrowing story of a child allegedly sold for money and still lost without a trace.
Judge: Child was treated as ‘commodity’
Sentencing the trio in a packed community hall in Saldanha Bay—converted into a courtroom due to public interest—Judge Erasmus condemned the defendants’ actions as inexcusable, despite their reported drug use.
‘There is nothing that I can find that is redeeming and deserving of a lesser sentence than the harshest I can impose,’ he said.
‘On the evidence before me, Joshlin was exchanged… There were payments, or at least the promise of payments,’ Erasmus added, concluding that Smith saw her daughter not as family, but as a commodity.
Joshlin was reported missing in February 2024 from her home in the coastal town of Saldanha Bay, around 135 kilometres north of Cape Town. Despite multiple search operations, police have not recovered her or found any confirmed tra
ce.
‘Desired for her eyes and skin’
As reported by Reuters, the court heard chilling testimony that Smith admitted to selling Joshlin for 20,000 rand (around $1,085), with witnesses claiming the child was specifically targeted for her ‘eyes and skin’.
In total, the prosecution presented evidence from 35 state witnesses, including neighbours, acquaintances, and investigators. Their accounts detailed how Smith, Appollis, and Van Rhyn conspired to traffic Joshlin, a child who would now be seven years old.
The disturbing claims triggered outrage across South Africa, fuelling protests and public vigils calling for justice and the safe return of the child.
Verdict brings closure, but not answers
The convictions bring a measure of justice, but no closure for a country still grieving the child’s disappe
arance. Joshlin’s image—an undated photograph circulated by the South African Police Services—remains a haunting symbol of innocence lost.
The trial has prompted renewed calls for tougher enforcement against child trafficking and deeper support for vulnerable families, particularly in impoverished communities where exploitation is more likely.
Human rights advocates welcomed the life sentences but urged that efforts must now turn toward finding Joshlin—or, at the very least, discovering what truly happened to her.
Police say the investigation into her whereabouts remains open. But for now, her story stands as a tragic warning about the depths of betrayal a child can face—and the long shadow that such crimes cast over a nation.
