The third week of the Joshlin Smith trial resumed with testimony from Kelly Smith’s sister, Mickeyla Daniels, who travelled from the Northern Cape to testify at the Western Cape High Court, currently set up at a community centre in Saldanha Bay.
Mickeyla Daniels testifies Kelly told her Joshlin was in Saldanha during search
Daniels’ testimony introduced yet another contradiction in Kelly’s statements regarding her daughter’s disappearance.
Daniels, who had limited contact with Kelly over the years, told the court that her first communication with Kelly in years occurred on 19 December 2023, when she received a Facebook message from her sister.
Their next interaction was on 5 January 2024, when Kelly asked for their mother’s phone number.
When Joshlin was reported missing on 19 February 2024, Daniels learned about it the following day through a voice note from their mother.
She attempted to contact Kelly, sending Facebook messages and calling via WhatsApp, but Kelly did not respond.
On 26 February 2024, a week to the day since Joshlin Smith’s disappearance, Daniels finally got through to Kelly in a WhatsApp call and directly asked her where Joshlin was.
Kelly responded:
“My child is here in the informal settlement. Someone wants to sell my child, but Saldanha is now a hotspot. But my child is here in the informal settlement.”
Daniels was taken aback by Kelly’s claim but was unable to press for details as Kelly abruptly ended the call.
Kelly also refused to answer follow-up questions about who was last seen with Joshlin, where she worked that day, and why Joshlin did not attend school on 19 February.
The bizarre utterances Kelly’s made about Joshlin
Daniels’ testimony aligns with other witness accounts that Kelly repeatedly changed her story about what happened to Joshlin.
During cross-examination, the defence will likely focus on the contradictions between Kelly’s statements to different people.
Witnesses, including Joshlin’s teacher, Tahirih Maart, previously testified that Kelly made a separate claim that Joshlin was being held in a container on a ship heading to West Africa.
Another witness, Shakeera Ganief, described a video call with Kelly on 20 February 2024, where she appeared more annoyed than distressed and vaguely implied that her boyfriend, Jacquen Appollis (Boeta), knew what had happened to Joshlin.
Adding to the damning testimonies, Section 204 witness Lourentia Lombaard testified last week that Kelly had orchestrated the sale of her daughter for R20,000 to a woman she believed was a sangoma.
Lombaard claimed to have overheard Kelly discussing the transaction and later confronting her about it, to which Kelly allegedly admitted:
“Rents, I just sold my child to a sangoma.”
Kelly’s multiple and conflicting explanations about Joshlin’s disappearance, from suggestions of trafficking to outright denial of knowing her whereabouts, have raised serious questions throughout the trial.
The trial continues.
