A police officer is set to continue testifying in the trial of seven-year-old Joslin Smith at the High Court in the Saldanha Bay Circuit in the Western Cape today. The young girl went missing a year ago, and the case has since drawn significant public attention.
The officer has so far detailed the events of February 19, the day Joslin disappeared. He testified that authorities received a call from radio control reporting a missing child in the Middelpos informal settlement. Upon arrival, the officer stated that Joslin’s mother, Kelly Smith, flagged them down on the roadside and informed them that her daughter had vanished.
Smith, along with co-accused Jacquen Appolis and Steveno van Rhyn, has pleaded not guilty to charges of kidnapping and human trafficking.
National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson, Eric Ntabazalila, highlighted key observations from the testimony. He noted that the officer corroborated claims that Kelly Smith appeared unusually calm when first approached by authorities, not displaying the distress expected of a mother whose child had just gone missing. Later that night, during the search, Smith was seen with her boyfriend, Boeta, and reportedly became emotional upon seeing him, which raised further questions about her initial demeanor.
The trial continues as the court hears further witness accounts in the high-profile case.