Clockwise from left: Joshlin Smith, Lourentia Lombaard and Kelly Smith at the Vredenburg Magistrate's Court on Monday, 21 October 2024. Pictures: Supplied and SABC screengrabs
The four accused in the Joshlin Smith’s disappearance case appeared for the last time in the Vredenburg Magistrate’s Court on Monday morning, a day after the Saldanha Bay girl would have celebrated her seventh birthday.
The agonising wait for answers has been prolonged once again as Magistrate Theresa Postma transferred the matter to the Western Cape High Court for a pre-trial conference on 31 January 2025.
All charges against Lourentia Lombaard have been withdrawn. She will be testifying as a state witness in the upcoming trial.
At Lombaard’s bail appearance on 18 March, state prosecutor Jacques van Zyl revealed in court that she made a confession about the disappearance of Joshlin.
Lombaard, who is widely known as Renze in the Middelpos community, was reportedly the last person to see Joshlin before she mysteriously vanished.
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The Saldanha girl has been missing for eight months since 19 February.
According to IOL, the Vredenburg community held a birthday celebration in the area for Joshlin on Sunday, 20 October, when the little girl would have turned seven.
An extensive search, which has extended as far as the United Kingdom (UK) alongside Interpol, was launched to locate the Grade 1 Diazville Primary pupil.
Her mother, Racquel “Kelly” Smith, her boyfriend Jacquen “Boeta” Appollis, and the couple’s friends Steveno van Rhyn and Lombaard were arrested and charged with human trafficking and kidnapping in March this year.
During Smith, Appollis and Van Rhyn’s first court appearance on 7 March, Senior State Advocate Aradhana Heeramun alleged that Smith instructed Appollis and Van Rhyn to sell Joshlin to another Middelpos man for R20 000 for traditional medicine.
The two men apparently made this confession after a 36-hour interrogation at Saldanha Police Station.
The accused stood in the dock with downcast eyes during court proceedings.
A heavily pregnant and visibly nervous Smith could be seen wiping away the tears while Postma spoke.
On leaving the courtroom, she appears to glance over her shoulder at Appollis before bursting into tears.
At the four accused’s previous appearance on 16 September, the State called for a postponement as new evidence emerged that needed to be analysed.
The NPA’s Eric Ntabazalila revealed that between their last appearance in July and September, new evidence was uncovered.
“It’s important evidence which is at a very sensitive stage of investigation and hence we asked for a postponement,” he said at the time.
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The 33-year-old Smith, who has confessed to being a tik (crystal meth) user, left her daughter in the care of Appollis when she went to do an odd domestic job.
On her return to the couple’s tin and wooden shack at about 5pm, Joshlin was missing.
Appollis denies any involvement in her disappearance. He claims that the last time he saw her was when she went to play outside.
Western Cape spokesperson Captain Malcolm Pojie told The Citizen that there has been no new information on the whereabouts of little Joshlin.
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