Trio plead not guilty in Joslin Smith kidnap, human trafficking trial

A mother and two co-accused pleaded not guilty to kidnapping and human trafficking charges on Monday as their trial got under way in connection with the disappearance of her six-year-old daughter Joslin Smith.

The child with green eyes disappeared without a trace just more than a year ago from her home in Saldanha Bay on the Cape west coast in what the state alleges was a plan hatched by her mother Racquel Chantel Smith, nicknamed Kelly.

The co-accused are her boyfriend Jacquin “Boeta” Appollis and friend Steveno van Rhyn. 

Scores of residents, many of whom spent days searching for the child, attended the first day of the high court trial which is being heard in a multipurpose centre in the coastal town by judge Nathan Erasmus.

“I’m hoping Kelly can speak up and tell us where Joslin is,” her grandmother Lauretta Yon Yon told broadcaster eNCA. Several residents echoed her call.

Smith reported her daughter’s disappearance on February 19 2024, claiming the grade 1 pupil was being cared for at the time by Appollis while she was at work.

According to the indictment, Smith allegedly made it known in August 2023 that she planned to have her three children taken away or sold in January or February 2024.  

The state alleges the child’s mother was handed something by an unknown woman in a white vehicle on February 18. The trio allegedly then discussed how to split the money. The next day the mother and daughter — with a bag of clothes — got into a white vehicle and drove away.

Judge Erasmus warned the accused they could face life imprisonment if convicted.

The trial continues.

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