News & Current Events
Judge Condemns Mother Who Sold 6-Year-Old Daughter For Ritual Killing: ‘No Excuse For Such Evil’
A heartfelt remark was provided by the court who condemned Joshlin Smith’s mother and her two accomplices.
Racquel ‘Kelly’ Smith, her lover Jacquen Appollis, and their friend Steveno van Rhyn were all given life sentences earlier today (May 29).
Kelly’s daughter, Joshlin Smith, then six years old, disappeared from her home in the Western Cape, South Africa, in February 2024. The three were found guilty of kidnapping and trafficking her. The police are still looking for the young child, but they don’t know where she is.
Law enforcement have pledged to continue their search for Joshlin. Western Cape police commissioner Thembisile Patekile told local media, per BBC: “We will not rest until we find [out] what happened to Joshlin. We are continuing day and night looking for her.”
According to a witness during the trial, they heard Kelly, a mother of three, discussing selling her children for 20,000 rand (about $1,100 USD) in 2023, but she also stated that she would take $275.
Lourentia Lombaard, a neighbour, testified that Kelly had informed her that she had sold her daughter to a sangoma, a traditional healer, for 20,000 rand because the sangoma “wanted her for her eyes and skin.”
The convicts’ fate was decided today by Judge Nathan Erasmus, who made a devastating statement in which he mentioned that Kelly’s grandmother had voiced worries about her back in 2016.
“The evidence indicated that Miss Smith, in particular, was in need of social services for a prolonged period,” Erasmus told the packed courtroom, as per Jacaranda FM.
“And I wonder, when her grandmother complained in 2016 to the Department of Social Development for a protection order, what access did she [Kelly] have when she sought support from the justice system? We failed.”
It is thought that Kelly, 35, had battled drug addiction since she was a young child, during which time she was homeless.
During the trial, a social worker’s assessment on the mother was given out, describing her life as “in chaos.”
“She was unable to provide stable care for Joshlin from the beginning,” it stated.
After giving birth to Joshlin, Kelly had gone to rehab, and her family friend Natasha Andrews was taking care of the newborn daughter.
Due to a lack of parental consent, her and her husband’s intention to adopt Joshlin was unsuccessful.
Speaking in the trial, Andrews said, “We could have provided for her better than her mother.”
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