A 6-year-old girl who went missing last summer from her home in South Africa was possibly sold to a local healer who wanted her for her eye and skin color, a witness has testified in the criminal trial against the missing girl’s mother.
The BBC reports that a neighbor testified last week that Kelly Smith had confided in her about a plan to sell her 6-year-old daughter Joshlin Smith to a traditional healer who “wanted her for her eyes and skin.”
Joshlin, the green-eyed 6-year-old, went missing in February 2024. Her mother, Kelly, is currently on trial for kidnapping and human trafficking charges in the High Court in Saldanha on the Cape West Coast, according to local outlet Voice of the Cape.
Smith’s boyfriend Jacquen Appollis and their friend Steveno van Rhyn are also on trial and have pleaded not guilty to human trafficking and kidnapping charges, the BBC reported.
Joshlin Smith.
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Several witnesses, including neighbor Lourentia Lombaard, a local pastor, and one of Joshlin’s teachers have testified that Smith confided in them about the idea of selling Joshlin or her two other children for money, according to BBC.
Lombaard, the Smiths’ neighbor and family friend, alleged in court last week that Smith had told her she sold Joshlin to a healer known as a “sangoma,” per the BBC.
“I did something silly,” Lombaard recalled Smith saying, according to the outlet, “I sold my child to a sangoma.” Lombaard then reportedly told the court Smith offered money to her and others who knew about the plan to sell Joshlin in exchange for their silence.
The neighbor also told the court she saw Smith pack a bag with Joshlin’s clothes and then saw the mother and daughter get into a white car with a woman outside their home, according to the BBC’s court report. Lombaard hypothesized to the court that the woman with Smith was the “person who [allegedly took] Joshlin wanted her for her eyes and skin,” BBC reported.
Kelly Smith.
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The South African Broadcasting Corporation also reported that another neighbor, Paulina Tshosa, testified during the trial that she witnessed Smith drag Joshlin into a shack during an argument on the night before she disappeared.
Joshlin’s teacher later testified that Smith had told her during the search for Joshlin that her daughter was “on a ship, inside a container, and they were on the way to West Africa,” according to BBC’s court report.
The outlet reported that a woman who was believed to be a healer had been arrested and questioned during the search for Joshlin but was released based on a lack of evidence, according to BBC.
