LIVE: Joshlin Smith trial | What's next for key witness Laurentia Lombaard?
State witness and former accused Laurentia Lombaard.
Image: Ayanda Ndamane / Independent Newspapers
As the search for missing Joshlin Smith continues, former accused turned state witness, Laurentia Lombaard, is expected to know her fate this week in the Western Cape High Court.
Lombaard was arrested and charged alongside Kelly Smith for the kidnapping of Joshlin Smith.
The six-year-old Saldanha girl disappeared on February 19, 2024.
Kelly's boyfriend, Jacquen ‘Boeta’ Appollis, and Steveno ‘Steffie’ van Rhyn are currently serving life sentences for the crime.
However, following her arrest Lombaard opted to become a Section 204 witness for the State, providing key evidence that secured the convictions of the trio.
But the question remains: Will Lombaard be exempt from justice?
Joshlin Smith has been missing since February 19, 2024.
Image: SAPS
On Tuesday morning, the issue of Lombaard's indemnity will be argued by legal counsel before Judge Nathan Erasmus.
Lombaard’s testimony blew the case right open and sent shockwaves through the courtroom when she revealed that Joshlin had been sold for R20,000.
While her testimony was filled with some holes and questionable actions, it helped the State secure both the conviction and sentence in this landmark case.
During the trial, the court heard Kelly had a violent streak, Lombaard also confirmed the group’s excessive drug use - mandrax and methamphetamine (tik).
Lombaard testified how Kelly received a call and spoke English during it, thereafter she told Boeta how someone ‘wanted Joshlin’, but he was not willing to listen at the time.
Jacquen Appollis, Steveno van Rhyn and Kelly Smith were sentenced in May.
Image: Ayanda Ndamane/Independent Newspapers
The court further heard that on Sunday, February 18, 2024, Kelly took Joshlin and went to the roadway and met with a woman who alighted from a white VW Polo, this woman, she assumed to be a sangoma who had white spots in her face and was dressed in a green blouse, skirt and doek (headscarf).
Lombaard stated she watched the scenario play out from behind the boulders in Middelpos. Kelly was handed something by the woman, which she stuck into the front of her pants.
Lombaard told the court she later overheard a conversation between Kelly and Boeta as she stood behind the shack they lived in.
Kelly told Boeta the ‘sangoma’ had given her R20,000. She later confirmed to Lombaard that she sold Joshlin for R20,000 because she was struggling and needed the money.
Lombaard testified Kelly had promised to pay her R1,000 and Steveno R1,200, the rest of the money will be spent between her and Boeta.
However, Lombaard claimed she never received the money. She even went into detail about how they planned on how Joshlin would ‘disappear’, and she told the court how she saw Joshlin loaded into the same vehicle with the same woman on February 19, 2024.
On May 29, Kelly, Boeta, and van Rhyn were sentenced to life imprisonment plus 10 years for trafficking in persons and kidnapping.
The trio is also expected to appeal their sentencing in the Western Cape High Court this week.
Police confirmed the search for the green-eyed girl continues.
robin.francke@iol.co.za
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