Woman Jailed For Life In South Africa For Selling Her 6-year-old Daughter Into Slavery

Source: Africa Publicity

A 35-year-old South African woman, along with two accomplices, has been jailed for life for kidnapping, trafficking and selling her six-year-old daughter into slavery.

The woman named Racquel “Kelly” Smith, her boyfriend Jacquen Appollis and their friehd Steveno van Rhyn were jailed on Thursday, May 29, 2025, more than a year after six-year-old Joshlin Smith mysteriously went missing outside her home in Saldanha Bay, near Cape Town in February 2024. She is yet to be found despite a highly publicized search for her.

According to South African prosecutors, the little girl was sold into slavery, a claim that was not definitively proven during the trial.

Smith is said to be addicted to drugs and it is believed she needed money, hence she had to sell her daughter.

The mother and her accomplices’ sentencing follows an eight-week trial.

South African judge, Nathan Erasmus, sentencing, says he “drew no distinction” between the three in handing down the sentences.”

According to the judge, “On the human trafficking charge, you are sentenced to life imprisonment. On the kidnapping charge, you are sentenced to 10 years imprisonment.”

The judge was unhappy with three individuals, especially Van Rhyn and Smith, lamenting that they showed no remorse for their actions.

He says “There is nothing that I can is redeeming or deserving of a lesser sentence,” saying their actions have impacted the Middelpos community where the missing lived. He said the development had left the residents in the community “fractured.”

Search To Continue

The South Africa Police Service (SAPS) has stated that the search for Joshlin will continue, even beyond the borders of South Africa.

Speaking to local media, Western Cape Police Commissioner, Thembisile Patekile, says “We will not rest until we find [out] what happened to Joshlin. We are continuing day and night looking for her.”

Meanwhile, South Africa’s National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) in welcoming the court ruling, praised the work of its team in proving that Joshlin was “sold [and] delivered to the intended buyer” for the purpose of “exploitation, namely slavery or practices similar to slavery.”

Testimony

During the trial, a local pastor testified that he had once heard Smith talk of selling her children for 20,000 rand ($1,100; £850) each, but that she would be willing to take a lower amount of $275.