The trial into the disappearance of six-year-old Joshlin Smith took an unexpected turn on Day 8 as her schoolteacher, Tahirih Edna Maart, took the stand.
Her testimony provided insight into Joshlin’s behaviour in class, her final days before she vanished, and a shocking statement made by her mother, Kelly Smith, days into the search for the missing child.
What Joshlin’s teacher revealed in court
Maart, who taught Joshlin in Grade 1 at Diazville Primary School, described her as a quiet child.
In class, Joshlin often sought her teacher’s presence, softly calling for her while working on school tasks. When asked if something was wrong, Joshlin would simply shake her head and continue writing.
On Monday, 19 February 2024, Joshlin did not show up for school. Her absence was unexplained.
By Tuesday, 20 February 2024, Maart woke up to a WhatsApp message sent to her at 04:30: “Teacher, we are looking for Joshlin.”
Concerned, Maart waited until 06:50 before calling Kelly Smith. On the phone, Kelly was crying. When Maart pressed her about where Joshlin had been the previous day, Kelly continued sobbing until the call abruptly ended—whether Kelly hung up or the signal cut out was unclear.
Maart later managed to reconnect with Kelly, who was still tearful and only mentioned that she was at the police station. No further details were given. At no point did Kelly explain why Joshlin hadn’t been at school.
This is where the timeline starts to fracture. In their plea statements, Kelly and her boyfriend, Jacquen Appollis, claimed Joshlin and her eldest son, Racquel, skipped school that day because their uniforms were dirty and they had no money for washing powder.
But Kelly had told another witness, Carline Zeegers, that Joshlin was unwell.
The ‘confidential’ revelation about a Nigerian man
By 23 February 2024, as the search for Joshlin intensified, Maart and her colleagues joined the community efforts.
That afternoon, while stopping at a filling station with two friends, Kelly suddenly appeared and got into her car.
“Teacher, there’s something I’d like to tell you that is confidential,” Kelly reportedly said.
According to Maart’s testimony, Kelly claimed she had received a call from a Nigerian man who warned her to “play quickly”. When Maart asked how she knew the caller was Nigerian, Kelly did not respond.
Kelly then went on to say that the man told her Joshlin was being held in a container on a boat heading to West Africa. When Maart asked if she had reported this to the police, Kelly allegedly said she was “too afraid that the Saldanha people would harm her.”
Before getting out of the car, Kelly whispered, “Boeta is not guilty.”
At the time, Maart had no idea who “Boeta” was, only learning later that the name referred to Jacquen Appollis, Kelly’s boyfriend and co-accused in the case.
Kelly’s lawyer went on the attack during cross-examination.
He focused on inconsistencies between Maart’s oral testimony and her written police statements, pointing out that her claim about Kelly saying “Boeta is not guilty” did not appear in the original reports.
The defence also challenged the reliability of the alleged Nigerian caller, arguing that Kelly had been misquoted or misunderstood. According to them, the man’s real name was Johan and he was an African medium—not Nigerian.
Kelly, through her lawyer, denied ever saying anything about West Africa.
When this article was published, the State was leading a new witness, social activist and TikToker, Shakeera Ganief.