Joshlin Smith’s mother allegedly plotted to sell her months before disappearance

Raquel “Kelly” Smith allegedly planned to sell her daughter Joshlin for R20 000 months before the little girl vanished.

Testifying before the Western Cape Circuit High Court in Saldanha Bay on Wednesday, witness Nico Steven Coetzee, 49, claimed Smith confided in him in August 2023.

She allegedly told the Diazville resident that she was waiting for people to take the child away, but they never showed up. According to Coetzee, Smith said she’d accept it if they returned with only R5 000.

Joshlin was six years old when she disappeared from her Middelpos home on 19 February 2024. 

Coetzee said he met Smith at a memorial service in Diazville in 2016. After the service, she asked him to help her find a job, where he worked as a general worker in Diazville and Jacobs Bay.

Smith’s alleged prediction: ‘They’ll search for Joshlin, but won’t find her’

Coetzee recalled the unsettling encounter in August 2023 when he walked to work and spotted someone jogging. He said he recognised Smith by her blonde hair.

She told him she was still waiting for a job but lived with a “bad family” and expected her children to be taken away. When he asked her where they’d go, she didn’t answer.

Smith then told him that in January or February next year, Middelpos and Diazville would be like a movie. She said cars would come, and people would be looking for Joshlin, but they would not find anything, as she would be far away.

Defence questions the witness’ credibility

On Thursday, Smith’s lawyer, Rinesh Sivnarain, cross-examined Coetzee, challenging the credibility of his testimony.

Sivnarain referred to discrepancies in Coetzee’s timeline, pointing out that he had initially stated that he would meet Smith in 2016 and again in 2023, only to mention encounters between these dates later.

Coetzee said that he had “seldomly and over a long period” crossed paths with Smith in the streets and that they had brief conversations on these occasions. When asked if he knew the accused well, he said that they had built a relationship over the years.

“We had a good rapport and called each other ‘homies’,” he testified.

Sivnarain also asked Coetzee about his claims about Kelly allegedly discussing selling her children and said that Smith would deny such conversations ever took place and also that she met him at the memorial service in 2016.

According to Sivnarain, Smith would testify that they met each other around 2015 or 2016, but in Hopland. Coetzee denied the truth of this statement.

Coetzee testified that he had no motive to get any of the accused into trouble, and that he did not know Smith’s two co-accused.

He also said that in August 2023, Smith told him that her children were in the care of Jacquen “Boeta” Appollis.

Witness delays reporting conversation with Smith

Coetzee later revealed that he learned about a missing child in Middelpos, but only realised it was Joshlin on 3 March 2024 during a prayer service in a community hall. He then informed his wife, who said she did not want to be involved in the case.

“She is the closest person to me, and I told her because we keep no secrets from one another.”

He said he didn’t say anything to anyone else about the conversation with Smith because he feared being arrested or criminally charged for spreading false rumours.

Judge Nathan Erasmus said that Coetzee would have told the police that what was said came directly from Smith, so there was no risk to him.

Erasmus also questioned why Coetzee waited so long to report the matter.

It wasn’t until 6 March, after the prayer service for Joshlin, that Coetzee went to the police, who allegedly refused to take written evidence and said he had to be sure of the child’s location so they could have fetched her immediately.

The court heard Coetzee’s official statement wasn’t recorded until 25 September 2024.

Smith, Jacquen “Boeta” Appollis, and Steveno van Rhyn are accused of the kidnapping and human trafficking of Joshlin.

The trial continues.

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