A woman from South Africa has been sentenced to life in prison after selling her daughter to a 'healer' for around £800.
Six-year-old Joshlin Smith went missing in February 2024, leading to significant search efforts which have thus far failed to find the girl.
Her mother, Kelly Smith, was initially seen sympathetically as she claimed she'd left her daughter in the care of her boyfriend Jacquen Appollis on the day Joshlin went missing.
However, the woman ended up being arrested during the investigation and has now been sentenced to life imprisonment along with two men deemed to have played a part in the six-year-old child's disappearance.
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Smith, Appollis and Steveno van Rhyn were all sentenced to life behind bars for human trafficking and were each handed a further 10-year prison sentence for kidnapping.
Smith's trial was moved into a sports centre in the South African town of Saldanha Bay so that members of the local community could attend the sentencing.
At the trial, a witness claimed that Smith told her they'd sold the girl to a 'traditional healer' who wanted the child for her body parts.
The witness testified that Smith had sold her six-year-old daughter to a sangoma for the price of 20,000 rand (around £800) and that he wanted the girl for her 'eyes and skin'.
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Speaking at the trial, Judge Nathan Erasmus handed down the life sentences and told the trio: "There is nothing that I can find that is redeeming and deserving of a lesser sentence than the harshest I can impose."
In his verdict the judge made no conclusions over who the girl had been sold to or what had happened to her, but said she had been sold.
Addressing the defendants, the judge acknowledged that the three of them were influenced by substances at the time but told them they 'had enough time to speak and come clean'.
Speaking on the trial verdict, Western Cape Police Commissioner Lieutenant Thembisile Patekile praised the 'meticulous investigative work' that went into the case.
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He also said that the search for the child was still ongoing and that authorities hadn't given up.
He said: "While no sentence can erase the pain caused by the heartbreaking disappearance of young Joshlin, this outcome offers a measure of closure and sends a powerful message: crimes against our most vulnerable citizens will not go unpunished.
"The search for Joshlin remains active, and SAPS is fully committed to exploring every possible lead in this tragic matter."
Topics: World News, Crime
Joe Harker