By Enyichukwu Enemanna
A court in South Africa on Friday convicted a woman for kidnapping and selling her 6-year-old daughter, a case that largely horrified the country.
Kelly Smith initially curried sympathy when her daughter went missing, and community members rallied around to support her.
They volunteered to help police search for Joshlin in the sand dunes near their poor neighbourhood of Saldanha Bay, about 120 kilometres north of Cape Town.
Joshlin went missing over a year ago, precisely in February 2024, and hasn’t been found.
Smith and two men — her boyfriend and their friend, were found guilty of kidnapping and human trafficking over the disappearance of the then six-year-old child.
TV stations in South Africa had broadcast a picture of Joshlin smiling, with her hair tied in pigtails, as police launched a nationwide search for her.
Smith claimed she had left Joshlin with her boyfriend on the day she disappeared, but the case took a new twist when she was arrested.
During her trial, a woman appeared and testified that Smith had told her she and the two men had sold Joshlin for about $1,000 to a traditional healer who wanted the child for her body parts.
Smith, her boyfriend Jacquin Appollis, and their friend Steveno van Rhyn face life imprisonment in connection with the crime.
The judge’s verdict did not make any conclusions on who the child was sold to. The hearing for their sentencing will commence next week, the judge said.
Those present in the court during the trial cheered and applauded when Judge Nathan Erasmus read out the guilty verdicts.
The trial was held in a Saldanha Bay sports centre, which had more space than a courtroom, in order to accommodate the many community members who turned out to witness the verdict.
