SALDANHA BAY – A schoolteacher has testified in court that Kelly Smith claimed a Nigerian man warned her that missing six-year-old Joshlin Smith was being taken to West Africa.
Diazville Primary School teacher, Edna Maart, took the witness stand on Wednesday at the Western Cape High Court, where Smith, Jacquen Appollis, and Stevano van Rhyn are facing charges of kidnapping and human trafficking. The case is being heard at the Saldanha Bay Multi-Purpose Centre.
Maart recounted her encounter with Smith during the search for Joshlin, revealing that Smith said she had received a phone call from the unidentified man. According to Maart, the caller urged Smith to “play quickly” and claimed that Joshlin was already in a container aboard a ship bound for West Africa.
However, Smith’s defense team disputed this account, with her attorney stating that his client maintains the call was from a spiritual medium named Johan rather than a Nigerian man.
The trial is ongoing.
Kelly Smith, Stevano Van Rhyn and Jacquen Appollis are back in the Western Cape High Court, sitting at the Saldanha Bay Multi-purpose Center today. The accused are on trial for the disappearance of six-year-old Joshlin Smith. CP pic.twitter.com/mJDYyPiTF4
— EWN Reporter (@ewnreporter) March 12, 2025
