The trio, accused of human trafficking and kidnapping, last appeared in court in October, just a day after Joslin would have turned seven.
Almost a year after the then six-year-old Joslin Smith disappeared from the Saldanha Bay area in the West Coast on 19 February, her mother, Racquel “Kelly” Smith, Kelly’s boyfriend Jacquen “Boeta” Appollis, and the couple’s friend Steveno van Rhyn, will appear in the Western Cape High Court on Friday.
The accused in the disappearance case appeared for the last time in the Vredenburg Magistrate’s Court on 21 October, a day after the girl from the Middelpos informal settlement would have celebrated her seventh birthday.
The agonising wait for answers was prolonged when Magistrate Theresa Postma transferred the matter to the High Court for a pre-trial. The three were arrested and charged with human trafficking and kidnapping in March this year.
Key witness cleared, will testify for the state
Lourentia Lombaard, widely known as Renze in the Middelpos community, was reportedly the last person to see Joshlin before she disappeared. However, all charges against her have been withdrawn. She will be testifying as a state witness in the upcoming trial.
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.
According to the state, the day before Joshlin went missing, Kelly took her to meet an unidentified woman in a white car and received a package.
Later, Smith and her co-accused allegedly discussed how they would split the money before she took Joslin to meet the same woman again on the day of her disappearance.
The pre-trial hearing is expected to reveal more details about Appollis and Van Rhyn’s roles in the case.
The day Joslin vanished
The 33-year-old Kelly left Joslin in the care of Appollis when she went to do an odd domestic job. She has confessed to being a tik (crystal meth) user.
On her return to the couple’s home 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.
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