A mother who sold her daughter was given a life term in South Africa

A South African woman found guilty of kidnapping and trafficking her six-year-old daughter has been sentenced to life imprisonment, along with her two accomplices.

Racquel “Kelly” Smith and her three companions — Jacquen Appollis, Steveno van Rhyn, and Racquel Smith’s boyfriend, Jacquen Appollis — received jail terms more than one year after Joshlin Smith went missing outside her Saldanha Bay residence near Cape Town.

Although an intensive search was launched after she vanished on February 20, 2024, she has yet to be located.

South African prosecutors allege she was sold into slavery, though this has yet to be proven during her trial.

Smith may have needed the money because he had become addicted to drugs and wanted more.

Sentences were handed down after an eight-week trial that held South Africa spellbound with witnesses and prosecutors making shocking allegations during trial proceedings.

Judge Nathan Erasmus noted he did not distinguish among them when handing down their sentences.

“On human trafficking charges, you have been sentenced to life imprisonment, while for kidnapping, you have received 10 years,” Judge Houlihan announced to thunderous applause from within the courtroom.

Judge Erasmus took over an hour to deliver his sentence with care and precision, providing a brief synopsis of the trial while emphasizing key aspects that stood out during it.

He lashed out at Van Rhyn and Smith for not showing any regret for their actions.

“There is nothing that justifies or merits a shorter prison sentence,” he stated.

He spoke further of their conduct’s effects on Middelpos, where the girl resided, noting it has left residents “fractured”.

Smith, 35, and her accomplices showed no reaction as the court proceedings took place at a community centre in Saldanha for residents to watch proceedings unfolding before them.

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Police confirmed their search would continue even beyond South African borders.

“Our search is ongoing to locate Joshlin,” Western Cape Police Commissioner Thembisile Patekile stated to local media.

The National Prosecution Authority (NPA) welcomed and applauded Joshlin’s sentence and its team’s work, demonstrating she had been “sold and delivered for use as slave labor or practices similar to slavery”.

Throughout the trial, no information regarding who would become the “intended buyer” was ever disclosed.

The BBC asked the NPA for more details, but their spokesperson could not offer them.

Emotions were running high before sentencing began, with angry community members insisting the trio deserved an “impartial sentencing”.

Joshlin’s grandmother, Amanda Smith-Daniels, appealed to Joshlin’s mother to either bring back Joshlin or let her know where she had taken place.

“No amount of punishment could bring back my grandchild,” she stated in an interview with Newzroom Afrika, an Afrikaans radio broadcaster.

Ms Smith-Daniels noted that Joshlin’s disappearance had left her family devastated.

She counselled her daughter against making excuses for herself or others for any difficulties that have befallen her, as it “was [her] who committed the deed”.

At trial, over 30 witnesses testified about the young girl’s troubled life and subsequent disappearance.

Kelly Smith and her colleagues refused to testify or call any witnesses on their behalf for their defense.

Lourentia Lombaard provided one of the most striking testimonies against Smith as a state witness.

Ms Lombaard claimed Smith informed her she had committed a misdeed by selling Joshlin to a traditional healer known as a “sangoma”.

“Whoever took Joshlin wanted her for her eyes and skin”, Ms Lombaard informed the court.

Pastor Egan testified that, in 2023, Smith, who is mother to three, discussed selling them each for 20,000 rand ($1,100; £ 850), although she indicated she may accept lower offers of $275 or even $325 instead.

Joshlin’s teacher claimed in court that during their search of Joshlin, she was told by Smith that her daughter was already aboard a ship “inside a container, headed toward West Africa”.

Ms Lombard and her clergyman both played key roles in helping secure her conviction.

At sentencing hearings, Smith was described as manipulative and someone who told “bald-faced lies”. A social worker hired to investigate Smith and her cohorts even stated it wouldn’t be hard to conclude she is behind the trafficking of her daughter, something no doubt would come as no shock based on past evidence presented during these hearings.

Courtroom witnesses heard compelling testimonies from those close to Joshlin about its devastating effects.