Another clothing item has been found during a recent search for missing Joshlin Smith.
Police spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Malcolm Pojie says: “We can confirm that community members found a jersey during a random search of the surroundings.
“Police forensic experts collected the clothing items for forensic analysis. Investigation is ongoing with various specialised units who form part of an integrated investigation team.
“The investigation and search for the missing Joshlin continue.”
Six-year-old Joshlin disappeared on 19 February, from her Middelpos home in Diazville.
On Thursday, activists Reverend June Dolley-Major and Celesthea Pierang went to Saldanha Bay and launched a new search.
Dolley-Major says: “It was quite emotional, we had quite a few people with us searching. We could feel the pain and people were crying.”
She says some women found clothing hidden under “massive slabs".
“We put gloves on, and there was a man standing near us. We asked them to lift it up, there was a jersey and blanket. The family members said Joshlin had a jersey like that and that the size was hers, 5-6 years.
“The police came within minutes and the forensics also arrived.”
She says they also found a woman’s jersey with what looked like blood.
Joshlin’s paternal grandmother Lauretta Yon said she hopes that this find will have a positive outcome.
“I wasn’t part of the search because I had to work but I hope that the police discover something that will lead to us finding Joshlin.”
Joshlin went missing while in the care of her mother’s boyfriend Jacquen Appollis.
Her mom Racquel Kelly Smith, Appollis and friends Steveno van Rhyn and Lourentia Lombaard were arrested and face human trafficking and kidnapping charges.
They will appear in Vredenburg Magistrates Court in July.