The grandmother of a girl who was sold "for her eyes and skin" has made a heartbreaking request after her daughter was sentenced for the crime.
Joshlin Smith, 6, disappeared in February 2024 from her home in Saldanha Bay, near Cape Town, and hasn’t been seen since.
Despite Racquel “Kelly” Smith's original claims that the little girl went missing outside their home, shocking courtroom testimony has revealed a horrifying truth — one involving drugs, a “healer,” and an alleged sale for as little as $275.
The most devastating revelations came from friend and neighbor Lourentia Lombaard. She testified in court that Smith told her she’d sold Joshlin to a traditional healer known as a sangoma.
“She said, ‘I did something silly. I sold my child to a sangoma,’” Lombaard said. “[The] person who [allegedly took] Joshlin wanted her for her eyes and skin.”
She also claimed Smith packed Joshlin’s belongings into a black bag before the alleged transaction. During the trial, Smith and her co-accused refused to testify or call any witnesses.
Joshlin’s teacher told the court that during the frantic national manhunt, Smith said her daughter was “on a ship, inside a container, and they were on the way to West Africa.”
In a moment that left the courtroom stunned, Joshlin’s grandmother, Amanda Smith-Daniels, turned to her own daughter, Kelly Smith, and pleaded: “Bring my [grand]child back or tell me where she is.”
Speaking to Newzroom Afrika, she added: “I don’t feel that any sentence they get will bring my grandchild back.” The pain, she said, has left the family “broken.”
Despite three life sentences handed down by Judge Nathan Erasmus to Kelly Smith, her boyfriend Jacquen Appollis, and their friend Steveno Van Rhyn, Joshlin remains missing.
Courtroom testimony revealed even more disturbing details. A local pastor shared that he once heard Smith discussing the sale of her children for 20,000 rand — around $1,100 — and that she’d accept as little as $275, per the Sun.
“She was the person that did the deed,” Joshlin’s grandmother said.
When sentencing the trio, Judge Erasmus told the court: “On the human trafficking charge, you are sentenced to life imprisonment.
"On the kidnapping charge, you are sentenced to 10 years imprisonment.” He added: “There is nothing that I can find that is redeeming or deserving of a lesser sentence.”
The National Prosecuting Authority said the outcome proves that Joshlin was “sold [and] delivered to the intended buyer” for “exploitation, namely slavery or practices similar to slavery.”
Joshlin was born in October 2017 and spent her life in a cramped iron shack with Smith, her siblings, and Appollis. A social worker described the home as offering “little in the way of privacy.”
Smith struggled with addiction and was known to be violent when high.
Western Cape police commissioner Thembisile Patekile has vowed to keep the search going. “We will not rest until we find [out] what happened to Joshlin. We are continuing day and night looking for her.”