‘STILL NO LEADS’

The investigating officer in the Joshlin Smith case, Captain Wesley Lombard told the Western Cape High Court that all their leads have turned out “negative”. 

The Western Cape Anti-Kidnapping Unit cop was recalled to the witness box at the White City Multipurpose Centre in Saldanha on Tuesday, telling the court that the exhibits found during the investigation into the missing meisie as the main trail resumed. 

Lombard told the court his team got involved in the case on 29 February 2024, 10 days after she went missing from her Middelpos home, and explained what was done during the investigation. 

With Joshlin’s mother Racquel “Kelly” Smith, her berk Jacquen “Boeta” Appollis and their pal Steveno “Steffie” van Rhyn on trial for kidnapping and human trafficking, Lombard says they followed elke lead - from sangomas to TikTokkers. 

Lombard said: “In the process of investigation, we were approached by many ‘fortune tellers’ who said they knew where Joshlin was. It was people within our own country and those abroad. We followed up on all the information, and it was negative. 

“During the investigation, we also worked with local informants for their assistance. People also came forth and introduced themselves as sangomas, they said they would do their traditional rituals to see where Joshlin was. We followed up on the information, and it was negative.”

Lombard told the court that on 15 March 2024, Interpol got information from the National Crime Agency in the United Kingdom (UK) about Joshlin being on a boat.

The boat was on the North Sea - between Great Britain and northern Europe. The following day, they were told the boat was moved to shore, however, there was no sign of Joshlin. 

He also added that “information that a child was found in various African countries, such as Ghana and Nigeria”, but he said that “none of the people sharing the information could share specific locations or areas’

Previously, the initial investigating officer, Sergeant Meyer Milstein from the Vredenburg Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences (FCS) Unit told the court that when he was searching the shack Joshlin lived in, he recovered a bed sheet and pillow case with what was presumed to be blood stains and smudges. 

However, Lombard told the court that, during the investigation, even more items were found, and it was all sent to the laboratory for analysis. 

He testified: “The knife, flip-flop, pillow case, clothes, cell phone, all the exhibits came out negative. None of the exhibits could be linked [with DNA] to Joshlin or her mother or her father.”

“We received information about children seen in different provinces. All this was followed up but was negative. This was just last month. The search for Joshlin still continues.”