The community of Diazville gathered for a solemn prayer session on Wednesday, marking exactly one year since the disappearance of six-year-old Joshlin Smith.
Diazville community holds prayer session for Joshlin Smith
The event, organised by the Patriotic Alliance, drew emotional responses from residents who reflected on the extensive search efforts across the Saldanha Bay region.
Held at the Diazville Community Hall, the prayer session included heartfelt speeches, hymns, and moments of silence in honour of Joshlin.
Many community members expressed ongoing grief and frustration over the lack of resolution in the case, with some holding placards bearing Joshlin’s image and messages of hope.
The prayer session comes as the legal process surrounding Joshlin’s disappearance intensifies, with a pretrial hearing currently underway at the Western Cape High Court.
Revisiting the Joshlin Smith disappearance
Joshlin Smith went missing on 19 February 2024 from her home in Diazville.
The then six-year-old’s disappearance sparked an international search effort, including assistance from Interpol, but she remains missing.
Her mother, Racquel ‘Kelly’ Smith, along with her boyfriend, Jacquen Appollis, and co-accused Steveno van Rhyn, have since been charged with kidnapping and human trafficking.
The trio appeared for a formal pretrial hearing on 31 January 2025 at the Western Cape High Court, where the State is expected to present key witness Laurentia Lombaard.
Lombaard, previously a suspect in the case, turned State witness and is anticipated to provide crucial testimony. According to the indictment, she will allege that Kelly Smith had been planning to sell her children as early as August 2023, with the intended transaction set for January or February 2024.
Court documents suggest that on 18 February 2024, a day before Joshlin vanished, Kelly Smith was seen meeting an unknown woman outside her home.
Lombaard claims this meeting was part of a broader plan involving Appollis and van Rhyn, detailing how the money from the alleged sale would be divided.
The indictment outlines a sequence of events in which Kelly Smith reportedly kept her children from school on the day of the disappearance.
She is alleged to have packed a bag of clothes, left for work, and entrusted the children to Appollis. During the day, the accused reportedly smoked inside the house while the children were present.
According to the State’s version, Kelly returned home later that day, took Joshlin and the bag of clothes, and left in a white vehicle that had been spotted outside her home earlier.
That evening, Kelly reported Joshlin missing, which initiated widespread search efforts across the Saldanha Bay area and beyond.
Despite initial leads, including bloody clothes found near the bay, no conclusive evidence has surfaced to locate Joshlin. DNA tests revealed the clothing did not belong to the missing child.
The pretrial process is expected to bring new developments, with prosecutors hopeful that Lombaard’s testimony will strengthen the case against the accused.
The State has also hinted at potential additional arrests and new charges as the investigation continues.
The next pretrial conference is scheduled for 28 February 2025, where further evidence and witness testimonies are likely to be presented.