JOHANNESBURG — A South African mother and two accomplices were sentenced to life imprisonment on Thursday (May 29) for trafficking her then-six-year-old daughter, in a case that gained nationwide attention since the child went missing last year.

Kelly Smith, her boyfriend Jacquen Appollis and their friend Steveno Van Rhyn were convicted of kidnapping and trafficking the girl, Joshlin Smith, after she disappeared from a small town in the Western Cape.

In a trial that shocked the country, a witness said Kelly Smith told her that she had sold her daughter to a sangoma, or traditional healer, for 20,000 rand (S$1,444) and that the girl was desired for her “eyes and skin”.

Joshlin Smith has still not been found despite an extensive police search.

Announcing their sentences on Thursday, high court judge Nathan Erasmus said the fact Kelly Smith, Appollis and Van Rhyn were drug users was no excuse.

“There is nothing that I can find that is redeeming and deserving of a lesser sentence than the harshest I can impose,” Erasmus said.

For kidnapping the three were given 10-year jail terms.

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A South African woman was sentenced to life in prison Thursday for selling her 6-year-old daughter.

Kelly Smith was sentenced by a judge alongside two others, her boyfriend and another man, who also received life sentences.

All three were convicted earlier this month on kidnapping and human trafficking charges.

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Smith’s daughter, Joshlin, went missing in February 2024 when she was 6, sparking a nationwide hunt by police in South Africa. (BBC)

Smith’s daughter, Joshlin, went missing in February 2024 when she was 6, sparking a nationwide hunt by police in South Africa. She has still not been found.

Smith, boyfriend Jacquen Appollis and their friend Steveno van Rhyn were sentenced to life terms for human trafficking and 10 years each for kidnapping.

Their sentences were read out by Judge Nathan Erasmus at a sports centre in the west coast town of Saldanha Bay.

The trial was moved to the sports centre so members of the local community could attend.

Smith — whose full name is Racquel Chantel Smith — was initially a figure of sympathy when her daughter went missing.

Kelly Smith was sentenced by a judge alongside two others, her boyfriend and another man, who also received life sentences. (AP)

Community members rallied around her and volunteered to help police search for Joshlin in the sand dunes near their poor neighbourhood of shacks close to Saldanha Bay, around 120 kilometres north of Cape Town.

A photograph of Joshlin smiling and with her hair tied in pigtails was broadcast by news stations across South Africa during the hunt for her.

Smith said she had left Joshlin with Appollis on the day she disappeared, but the case took a shocking twist when Smith was arrested.

A woman testified during the trial that Smith had told her she and the two men had sold Joshlin for around $1000 to a traditional healer who wanted the child for her body parts.

Raquel Smith and her boyfriend, Jacquen Appolis, alongside their friend Stevano van Rhyn, were each handed life sentences for their involvement in the February 2024 disappearance of six-year-old Joshlin Smith, who vanished without a trace.

A South African woman and two of her accomplices have been sentenced to life in prison after being found guilty of kidnapping and trafficking her six-year-old daughter.

Raquel Smith and her boyfriend, Jacquen Appolis, alongside their friend Stevano van Rhyn, were each handed life sentences for their involvement in the February 2024 disappearance of six-year-old Joshlin Smith, who vanished without a trace outside her home in Saldanha Bay, near Cape Town.

The girl remains missing despite an intense and widely publicised search effort.

The trio’s sentencing comes nearly six weeks after the trial’s commencement, with 30 witnesses taking the stand to testify on the matter.

Sold to a traditional healer

One witness alleged that Joshlin was sold to a traditional healer, popularly known as a sangoma, who reportedly wanted her for her eyes and skin.

A local pastor also testified that he had overheard Raquel Smith discussing selling her children for 20,000 rand (about Sh144,538), and even said she might have accepted as little as $275 (Sh35,543).

On the other hand, the three suspects refused to testify or call any witnesses to defend them.

While issuing the orders, Judge Nathan Erasmus noted that he did not consider any one of the suspects to be more or less culpable than the others. Therefore, the judge gave them all the same sentence, life imprisonment for human trafficking and 10 years for child kidnapping.

“On the human trafficking charge, you are sentenced to life imprisonment. On the kidnapping charge, you are sentenced to 10 years imprisonment,” the judge ruled.

No emotion

Smith and her accomplices did not show any emotion when the judge issued the ruling.

Tension ran high in the courtroom beforehand, with outraged community members calling for the trio to face severe punishment, insisting it was well deserved.

In a heartfelt appeal before sentencing, Joshlin’s grandmother, Amanda Smith-Daniels, urged her daughter to come forward with the child’s whereabouts, adding that the girl’s disappearance has left her family broken.

“I don’t feel that any sentence they get will bring my grandchild back,” she told local broadcaster Newzroom Afrika.

According to global data gathering firm Statista, the number of kidnapping offences recorded by the South African police in 2024 amounted to over 17,000 offences, indicating a peak in the period under review.

In comparison to the number of kidnapping cases in the preceding year, this number increased by over 11 per cent.

By Siyanda Mthethwa

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) -A South African mother and two accomplices were sentenced to life imprisonment on Thursday for trafficking her then-6-year-old daughter, in a case that gained nationwide attention since the child went missing last year.

Kelly Smith, her boyfriend Jacquen Appollis and their friend Steveno Van Rhyn were convicted of kidnapping and trafficking the girl, Joshlin Smith, after she disappeared from a small town in the Western Cape.

In a trial that shocked the country, a witness said Kelly Smith told her that she had sold her daughter to a sangoma, or traditional healer, for 20,000 rand ($1,100) and that the girl was desired for her “eyes and skin”.

Joshlin Smith has still not been found despite an extensive police search.

Announcing their sentences on Thursday, high court judge Nathan Erasmus said the fact Kelly Smith, Appollis and Van Rhyn were drug users was no excuse.

“There is nothing that I can find that is redeeming and deserving of a lesser sentence than the harshest I can impose,” Erasmus said.

For kidnapping the three were given 10-year jail terms.

($1 = 17.8969 rand)

(Reporting by Siyanda Mthethwa;Editing by Alexander Winning and Sophie Walker)

A South African mother has been handed a life sentence for selling her 6-year-old daughter so a “traditional healer” could cut out and use her skin and eyeballs.

Racquel “Kelly” Smith was found guilty earlier in May of abducting and trafficking her daughter, Joshlin Smith. The mother of three, 35, her boyfriend Jacquen Appollis, and his friend Steveno van Rhyn were also found guilty and sentenced to life.

The sentences came over a year after Joshlin disappeared suspiciously from her Saldanha Bay house near Cape Town in February 2024, The New York Post reported.

Each of them received a concurrent 10-year prison sentence for kidnapping.

Despite a thorough nationwide search, Joshlin or her body was yet to be found.

During the sentencing, Smith admitted to selling her daughter for 20,000 rand ($1,100) to a traditional healer known as a “sangoma,” who claimed to be interested in the girl’s “eyes and skin.”

Judge Nathan Erasmus stated in court that Smith was deceptive and had displayed “no indication of remorse” or concern about her daughter’s absence.

The mother-of-three remained emotionless as her sentence was delivered, ending an eight-week trial that had to be rescheduled to a nearby stadium so that appalled community members could watch.

The courtroom erupted in applause as the verdict was announced. The court interpreter was overcome with emotion when translating the victim impact statements into English.

Smith was seen with sympathy when her daughter first disappeared, and images of the girl’s bright green eyes, pigtails, and wide smile spread across the country.

A government minister offered a one-million-rand ($54,000) prize for Joshlin’s safe return. But sympathy for her dissipated when prosecutors claimed that Smith sold her child to a healer.

Witnesses, including the girl’s former teacher and a preacher, said that Smith informed them of the child’s impending sale as early as 2023.

According to testimony during the trial, Smith allegedly informed Joshlin’s teacher that she was “on a ship, inside a container, and they were on the way to West Africa,” per PEOPLE.

The current search for Joshlin has now spread beyond South Africa.

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