JOSHLIN ACCUSED 'MADE UP STORIES'

Unknown police officer coached him

- MANDILAKHE TSHWETE

THE State has rejected the testimony of key accused in the Joshlin Smith kidnapping case, as the trial took a dramatic turn when Jacquen “Boeta” Appollis admitted in court that parts of his confession were fabricated.

During his cross-examination in the Western Cape High Court, sitting at the White City Multipurpose Centre in Diazville, Saldanha Bay, he told the court that an unknown police officer coached him to implicate his co-accused.

He claimed he added additional details to “make the story sound real” because he was scared.

Joshlin, 6, disappeared from her home on February 19, 2024.

Her mother, Racquel “Kelly” Smith, reported that she had left the child in the care of her boyfriend, Appollis, while she went to work. When she returned home, Joshlin was gone.

Appollis, Smith, Steveno “Steffie” van Rhyn, and Lourentia Lombaard were subsequently arrested, with Lombaard later released.