Joshlin Smith: Police deny arrest of Saldanha undertaker’s wife

Patriotic Alliance (PA) leader Gayton McKenzie announced this week that members of the police reportedly descended upon the house of a sangoma in Diazville’s Middelpos informal settlement from where the six-year-old Joshlin Smith mysteriously vanished on 19 February.

McKenzie told his 330 000 Facebook followers that a “huge police raid” took place at the house of a Middelpos sangoma on Wednesday.

The political leader, who is offering a R1 million reward for the safe return of the Grade 1 Diazville Primary School pupil, has been actively involved in the search for the missing child.

Joshlin Smith: Claims of ‘huge police raid’ and arrest

“Huge police raid at the house of sangoma, police are all over the place. The cops are looking for Owen. Unconfirmed reports state that someone has already been arrested, a lady. Will update as soon as we get more information,” McKenzie’s post read.

Despite the PA leader’s promised update, he failed to do so in the end.

According to Daily Voice, local councillor Vernon Vraagom said on Wednesday evening that some residents allegedly informed him of a police raid in Saldanha Bay.

“I was informed that Saps raided the sangoma’s house next to the undertaker’s house. They also took the undertaker’s wife in and at the moment, we don’t know why.”

‘All false rumours’

However, Western Cape police spokesperson Lieutenant-Colonel Malcolm Pojie denied the claims that a fifth person had been arrested this week.

“A social media post about another arrest after a search… are all false rumours. Be advised that no new arrests have been made,” Pojie said.

“The investigation is still ongoing, and the possibility of other suspects being arrested as the investigation unfolds, cannot be ruled out.

“The search for Joshlin continues,” Pojie added.

Four accused set to appear in court next week

Joshlin has been missing for almost three months despite an extensive search operation which has extended as far as the United Kingdom (UK) alongside Interpol.

The girl disappeared without a trace while in the care of Jacquen “Boeta” Appollis, who is the boyfriend of the little girl’s mother, Racquel “Kelly” Smith.

The latest claims come just days before Smith, Appollis, Steveno van Rhyn and Lourentia “Renze” Lombaard are due to appear in the Vredenburg Magistrate’s Court on Monday, 13 May.

The four accused have been charged with human trafficking for the purpose of exploitation and kidnapping in connection with Joshlin’s disappearance case.

Senior advocate Aradhana Heeramun, who appeared for the State during their first court appearance on 7 March, alleged that Smith instructed Appollis and Van Rhyn to sell Joshlin to another Middelpos man for R20 000 for muti.

The two men apparently made this confession after a 36-hour interrogation at Saldanha Police Station.

State prosecutor Jacques van Zyl said Lombaard has made a confession before her arrest, but no further details of what had been confessed were provided.

ALSO READ: WATCH: A quarter button and ‘sakkie’ tik while Joslin Smith vanished into the night

Woman claims Joshlin’s mom told her where missing girl is

The police conducted a fruitless search recently in Middelpos after a woman who claimed to have been in Pollsmoor prison with the 33-year-old Smith, claimed that Joshlin’s mother told her where the child was.

Smith, who is a self-confessed tik user, is allegedly pregnant with her fourth child while she is awaiting trial behind bars.

At the time of the search, Vraagom told IOL that a WhatsApp voice note with the claims of Smith’s fellow inmate was doing the rounds

“We gathered people around and told them that the woman – who was a witness to a crime but missed a court date and was arrested thereafter – said she was told by Kelly that the child was at the shack where a sangoma lives in Middelpos,” he explained.

“She described the shack and said there is a Kombi that parks there. According to her, we should check under it because there’s a drain and that Joshlin wasn’t the only child who was there.”

Ex-cop claims static DNA trace of Joshlin’s hair ‘points to Saldanha’

Over the weekend, The Citizen reported that retired Bloemfontein police officer and private investigator Danie Krugel was roped in by Diazville gender-based violence (GBV) activist Reverend June Dolley-Major.

Krugel is the inventor of the controversial Matter Orientation System (MOS) or Krugel Theory Tester, which he claims can track a person’s location through their static DNA. 

In a Facebook Live post, Dolley-Major claimed that Krugel’s machine detected the missing girl’s DNA in two areas in the West Coast town after she provided the ex-cop with strands of Joshlin’s hair from two elastic bands.

The reverend explained that the information about Joshlin’s static DNA trace could not be made public as it was handed over to the police. 

Provincial police spokesperson Captain FC van Wyk told IOL that the South African Police Service (Saps) couldn’t verify the accuracy of Krugel’s device.

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