‘I WANT JOSHLIN BACK’

KELLY Smith’s mother has called on her daughter to reveal what happened to missing Joshlin. 

Amanda Smith Daniels was speaking at Diazville’s White City Multipurpose Centre in Saldanha Bay after Friday’s Western Cape High Court verdict that convicted Kelly of the kidnapping and trafficking of her green-eye meisiekind. 

Kelly and her co-accused, berk Jacquen “Boeta” Appollis and their friend Steveno “Steffie” van Rhyn, were found guilty of selling the girl for R20 000 after she went missing in the care of Boeta and Steffie on 19 February 2024. 

Neither of them chose to defend themselves in court after the State closed its case last week. 

With the trio now facing sentencing, Kelly’s mom says she wants her daughter to tell her story, so the search for the little girl from Middlepos can continue. 

Daniels, said: “I just want my grandchild back. It doesn’t matter how long they are going to stay in jail, but my grandchild is still gone.

“Kelly must tell me where my grandchild is, that’s all. I am angry at Kelly because nobody knows if Joshlin is still alive, and I don’t want to see her!”

On Friday, 200 mense packed into the makeshift courthouse, while hundreds more gathered in the streets outside, to hear Judge Nathan Erasmus’ verdict.

Resident Tamara Robin said: “I started clapping hands in court after the judgment. I just think they will get life sentences. I just hope that Kelly will now sing and tell us where Joshlin is. We want to know whether she is still alive or dead. If she is still alive, we want to know where she is, and if she is not, we want to know where her body is.”

Emotional supporter Cheryl Mitchell said: “We have been following the whole year, and also on social media, and nobody can say where Joshlin might be. I am happy about the conviction. It is all God, at the end of the day, they need to answer where our child is.”

Meanwhile, Joshlin’s paternal grandmother, Louretta Yon, said: “I am very happy that the judge convicted the three. 

“I hope the judge will give them two life sentences. But that doesn’t matter, though what matters is that Joshlin is not with us. All I want is for Joshlin to be found. 

“I am glad that the judge made this ruling. If I saw Kelly now, I would tell her that she knows what happened to Joshlin. 

“She told me the first day Joshlin went missing that her motherly instincts told her that her daughter was still alive. I know she knows where her child is; that is why she was not willing to take the stand.

“This won’t make her talk, it might be that there is someone else behind the disappearance.”

Yon also said that since the disappearance of her granddaughter, her life has drastically changed.

On Friday, 200 mense packed into the makeshift courthouse, while hundreds more gathered in the streets outside, to hear Judge Nathan Erasmus’ verdict.

Resident Tamara Robin said: “I started clapping hands in court after the judgment. I just think they will get life sentences. I just hope that Kelly will now sing and tell us where Joshlin is. We want to know whether she is still alive or dead. If she is still alive, we want to know where she is, and if she is not, we want to know where her body is.”

Emotional supporter Cheryl Mitchell said: “We have been following the whole year, and also on social media, and nobody can say where Joshlin might be. I am happy about the conviction. It is all God, at the end of the day, they need to answer where our child is.”