{"id":184,"date":"2025-05-30T07:33:00","date_gmt":"2025-05-30T07:33:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tona.today\/?p=184"},"modified":"2025-05-29T22:20:40","modified_gmt":"2025-05-29T22:20:40","slug":"mother-who-sold-six-year-old-daughter-given-life-term-in-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tona.today\/?p=184","title":{"rendered":"Mother who sold six-year-old daughter given life term in South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A South African woman convicted of kidnapping and trafficking her six-year-old daughter has been sentenced to life in prison, along with her two accomplices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The jail terms for Racquel &#8220;Kelly&#8221; Smith, her boyfriend Jacquen Appollis and their friend Steveno van Rhyn come more than a year after Joshlin Smith mysteriously disappeared outside her home in Saldanha Bay, near Cape Town.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Yemi Alade - Tomorrow (Official Music Video)\" width=\"980\" height=\"551\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/G4u2yMsPdG8?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Despite a highly publicised search for the girl, who vanished in February 2024, she is yet to be found.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">South African prosecutors say she was sold into slavery however this was not definitively proven during the trial.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It is believed that Smith, who was addicted to drugs, needed the money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The sentencing follows an eight-week trial that captivated South Africa, with witnesses and prosecutors making a number of shocking allegations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Judge Nathan Erasmus said he &#8220;drew no distinction&#8221; between the trio in handing down the sentences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;On the human trafficking charge, you are sentenced to life imprisonment. On the kidnapping charge, you are sentenced to 10 years imprisonment,&#8221; he said to loud applause in the courtroom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Judge Erasmus took over an hour to deliver the sentence and was measured as he gave a brief summary of the case and highlighted points that stood out during the trial.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He rebuked the trio, especially Van Rhyn and Smith, saying they showed no remorse for their actions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;There is nothing that I can find that is redeeming or deserving of a lesser sentence,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He also spoke of the impact their conduct had on the community of Middelpos, where the girl lived, saying it had left residents &#8220;fractured&#8221;.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Smith, 35, and her accomplices showed no emotion as their sentences were read out in the community centre in Saldanha where the trial was held to allow residents to attend proceedings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Police said the search for the little girl would continue, even beyond South Africa&#8217;s borders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;We will not rest until we find [out] what happened to Joshlin. We are continuing day and night looking for her,&#8221; Western Cape police commissioner Thembisile Patekile told local media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) welcomed the sentence and lauded the work of its team in proving that Joshlin was &#8220;sold [and] delivered to the intended buyer&#8221; for the purpose of &#8220;exploitation, namely slavery or practices similar to slavery&#8221;.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">During the trial, the identity of the &#8220;intended buyer&#8221; was never revealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The BBC asked the NPA for further details, however a spokesperson was unable to provide any.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Emotions were high ahead of the sentencing, with angry community members saying the trio should get a &#8220;harsh sentence because they deserve it&#8221;.  <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/cj93yvr3n1xo\">(BBC)<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A South African woman convicted of kidnapping and trafficking her six-year-old daughter has been sentenced to life in prison, along with her two accomplices. The jail terms for Racquel &#8220;Kelly&#8221; Smith, her boyfriend Jacquen Appollis and their friend Steveno van Rhyn come more than a year after Joshlin Smith mysteriously disappeared outside her home in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":28,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[245,246,244,247,248],"class_list":["post-184","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-foreign","tag-jacquen-appollis","tag-racquel-kelly-smith","tag-south-africa","tag-steveno-van-rhyn","tag-trafficking"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Mother who sold six-year-old daughter given life term in South Africa - Tona Today<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A South African woman convicted of kidnapping and trafficking her six-year-old daughter has been sentenced to life in prison,\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/tona.today\/?p=184\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mother who sold six-year-old daughter given life term in South Africa - 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