Joshlin Smith trial: How claims were made of the child allegedly being sold to a sangoma

Constable Refilwe Sekhobe on Monday told the court that during her initial interview with one of the accused in the Joshlin Smith disappearance, that information had been provided that the child had been sold to a sangoma.

The Saldanha Bay detective said days after the six-year-old went missing she visited all the accused, the child’s mother Racquel ‘Kelly’ Smith, Jacquen ‘Boeta’ Appollis and Steveno ‘Steffie’ van Rhyn.

She revealed that she also spoke to former accused Laurentia Lombaard who appeared jittery.

All charges against Lombaard were previously dropped.

“I learnt from Mr Appollis that Ms Lombaard had been at the residence on the day of Joshlin’s disappearance.

“I took down her statement in Afrikaans, read it back to her, and then told her she was excused. I informed Sergeant Milstein that a name had been mentioned. She only mentioned someone known to her (Lombaard) as Steffie.

“And this was the person that we weren’t aware of. I met Mr Steveno on 22 February at his premises.

“We went to the address, on arrival there were people standing outside and also inside the house, they were mostly community members and some from the search group.”

Sekhobe said Van Rhyn was sitting down and answering questions about his whereabouts to the crowd.

“He confirmed that he was at Smith and Appollis’ residence on the day Joshlin went missing.

“He also mentioned that Laurentia was at the premises. What he could recall was that Ms Laurentia left with Joshlin and when she came back she was alone, but later confirmed that he didn’t see that happen. That was the last time the child was seen.”

She added that Van Rhyn seemed emotionally unstable but gave them a lead which they followed.

“I remember he said that he suspected that Laurentia’s boyfriend might have given the child to a sangoma.

“Mr Van Rhyn’s statement was not obtained on that day. He was a bit emotional and he would be smiling and laughing and all of a sudden he would talk loud, his emotional state was not good. Having learnt that he is also using drugs, I suspect that might be the cause of his behaviour that day,” Sekhobe testified.

“The information was followed up. There wasn’t a specific name of the sangoma given by Mr Van Rhyn as to which sangoma the child had been sold to. The nearby sangomas in the area were visited and there was no evidence found of Joshlin being there.”

mandilakhe.tshwete@inl.co.za