Key Joshlin trial witness falls ill during grueling cross-examination

THE Joshlin Smith kidnapping trial took another dramatic turn yesterday as State witness Lourentia Lombaard reported feeling dizzy before court officials carried her out of the courtroom to be seen by medical personnel following a grueling cross-examination.

- MANDILAKHE TSHWETE

Lombaard had earlier testified about her friendship with the missing girl's mother, Racquel 'Kelly' Smith.

Lombaard revealed that Smith suspected her of having an affair with her boyfriend, Jacquen 'Boeta' Appollis, which caused tension between them before Joshlin's disappearance.

Joshlin, 6, went missing from her Middelpos home in Saldanha Bay on February 19, 2024.

Smith, Appollis, and their friend Steveno van Rhyn are now facing charges of kidnapping and human trafficking.

Lombaard, initially arrested alongside them, turned State witness and claimed that Smith sold Joshlin to a sangoma for R20 000, promising her R1 000 and Van Rhyn R1 200 in exchange for their silence. Lombaard has been on the stand at the Western Cape High Court sitting in the White City Multipurpose Centre in Diazville, since March 13, and it was expected that yesterday would be the last day of the cross-examination, but she fell ill.