Jacquen “Boeta” Appollis and Steveno van Rhyn, accused one and two in the kidnapping and human trafficking case of seven-year-old Joslin Smith, told the Western Cape high court on Wednesday that they were tortured by police officers who were trying to extract information about the child’s whereabouts.
Both men and accused number three, Kelly Smith, Joslin’s mother and Apollis’s partner, also described heavy drug use on the day of the child’s disappearance.
In plea explanations read out by their legal representatives — advocate Fanie Harmse for Appollis and attorney Nobahle Mkabayi for Van Rhyn — both men alleged, in exactly the same words, that they had been handcuffed, “hanging mid-air” and had plastic bags placed over their heads.
Joslin was reported missing on the night of 19 February 2024.
The state alleges in its indictment that Smith “communicated during August 2023 her plan to have her children be taken away or sold. The plan was for this to happen in January or February 2024.”
Last year, charges were withdrawn against the fourth accused, Lourentia Lombaard — referred to as Rens throughout proceedings — who has turned state witness.
Detailing the alleged torture he suffered at the hands of the police, Appollis said that since 20 February 2024, he had been questioned by “several police members” whose names he could not remember.
He was staying at his mother’s home at this time for his own protection, as the community was angry about Joslin’s disappearance. It was a detective who had suggested he and Smith not stay at their own home, he said.
The officers would take him to the Sea Border offices periodically for about a week, he said, handcuff him, “make me lie on my stomach, and then while they questioned me, stood on my feet”.
He and Smith were then booked into the Hoedjesbaai Hotel in the area by “a prominent politician”, he said, and during the early hours of 4 March, two female police officers took him and Smith to the Sea Border offices again.
“I was not informed of my rights, neither was I told that I am under arrest. There were several police officers there, and I was told, ‘Vandag gaan jy dood [today you will die].’
“I was handcuffed and hanging in mid-air. A plastic bag was placed over my head while I was hit on my head, legs, feet and hands. I could not breathe.
“They told me, if I want to talk, I should shake my head. This carried on while I could not breathe. The pain was so severe that I felt that I was going to die. This was repeated several times.
“To get them to stop torturing me, I shook my head and they removed the plastic bag and I said that I would talk, even though I had already told everyone what I already knew.
“I realised that, if I do not tell them what they want to hear, they will kill me.”
Appollis said that night he slept in a locked car outside the station.
The next day, he said, he was taken to Vredenburg Provincial Hospital.
“Before I saw the doctor, I was told several times [by officers who were present] that if I tell anybody what [the police] did to me, I would be killed.”
Van Rhyn told the court he was picked up by police in an unmarked bakkie on the night of 4 March 2024, driven to a secluded area near the sea, made to lie down in the vehicle and “assaulted”.
The officers asked him where Joslin was and what he had done with her, throughout the alleged assault.
He said that once the officers had dragged him from the vehicle, they “forced a gun inside my mouth”, saying they would kill him and bury his body in the sand or throw it into the ocean, if he did not cooperate.
“A white man then appeared, driving a bakkie, and told them they can’t be there, as it is private property, and they must leave. At all material times, I was never told I was under arrest or informed of my rights,” said Van Rhyn.
He was taken to the Sea Border offices on the same night, where the assault continued, “there were several police officers there”, he said in the statement.
“They ordered me to remove my sweater and handcuffed me again.
“I was hanging in mid-air, a plastic bag was placed over my head, while I was hit on my head, legs, feet and hands. I could not breathe. They told me if I want to talk, I must shake my head. The pain was so severe I felt that I was going to die. [The assault] was repeated several times …
“To stop them from torturing me, I shook my head, and they removed the plastic bag. I said I was ready to talk [and I knew I had to tell them what they wanted to hear].”
Van Rhyn said he spent the night in handcuffs, inside a locked car.
The next day, according to Van Rhyn, he was taken to Vredenburg Provincial Hospital for a medical examination.
“I was warned not to tell the doctor that the injuries I sustained resulted from their torture. They told me what to tell the doctor when he asked how I sustained the injuries.”
Van Rhyn was told that if he told the doctor how he was injured, he would be killed.
Attorney Rinesh Sivnarain, acting for Smith, read her statement into the record, starting with the day of Joslin’s disappearance.
Smith said she started getting ready for work on the morning of 19 February 2024 and told Joslin and her brother that they would not be attending school as “their uniforms were dirty”.
“After I was ready, I dropped off my youngest child at the creche and proceeded to work.”
Smith was employed as a domestic worker at the time. She says she had a cup of coffee with her employer and, at midday, borrowed R50 “which I used to buy drugs”.
She then returned to her home where she and Appollis “smoked drugs” — identified as tik in Appollis’s statement.
Joslin and her sibling were still at home at this time, she said. Smith returned to work at about 1pm.
Smith said that, just before 5pm, she borrowed R200 and went home, where she found Appollis and Van Rhyn.
“I enquired to them as to the whereabouts of the children, and they responded by saying [Joslin’s brother] was with his godfather, and that Joslin was playing around. I then enquired from the neighbour… if she had seen Joslin and she said the kids went to play in the park. I then told [Appollis] we should go to the shop to purchase gas before it closes.”
“On our way back home, after purchasing gas, we bought another bag of drugs, which we smoked immediately upon our arrival at home.”
Joslin’s brother returned home shortly after. Kelly said he answered “no” when she asked if he had seen his sister. Smith said she sent the child to check for Joslin at the park but he said no one was there.
This was when she began to “panic”, according to Smith, and told her neighbour that she could not find Joslin. The women started looking for the child at the homes of neighbours.
Smith said that, by this time, she had become “hysterical”. Police were contacted “just after 9pm”, she said. When they arrived at her home, Smith climbed into the car and they continued searching, until the early hours of 20 February.
The trial continues with the cross-examination of police officer Zuko Kobese, who appeared as a witness on Tuesday.