Raquel “Kelly” Smith, whose daughter Joshlin remains missing after more than a year, was found guilty with her co-accused of kidnapping and human trafficking by the high court on Friday.
Scores of residents gathered at a community centre in Saldanha Bay to hear the much anticipated judgment delivered by judge Nathan Erasmus in the town where six-year-old Joshlin went missing on February 19 last year.
Erasmus said depriving Joshlin of her freedom of movement and liberty was unlawful.
“On count 1 (trafficking) you are guilty. On count 2 you are also convicted of kidnapping,” he said as the public gallery erupted in applause.
Smith burst into tears, holding her head in her hands.
“There is a saying that goes, ‘it takes a village to raise a child’ — but here we have a village where the child was not safe,” said Erasmus.
Smith, wearing a button-up yellow and white striped shirt, sat listening to the judgment with her hands clasped together, occasionally scratching her left cheek. Her birthday was on Thursday. She nodded during a break in the judgment when asked whether she had cake.
Smith, her boyfriend Jacquin “Boeta” Appollis and Steveno van Rhyn had pleaded not guilty to the charges.
The trial was held in the west coast town to allow residents, many of whom spent days searching for the missing girl, an opportunity to witness justice in action. Due to high levels of unemployment in the area, many residents could not afford to travel to the high court in Cape Town.
The accused chose not to testify in their defence. The trial shone a spotlight on frequent drug abuse by Smith and her co-accused.
Provincial police commissioner Lt-Gen Thembisile Patekile and his management team attended proceedings.
Joshlin’s grandmother Rita Yon and witnesses who were present included Joshlin’s “grootmaakma” Natasha Andrews, evangelist Nico Coetzee, Capt Wesley Lombard and Brig Leon Hanana.
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