Joshlin Smith's mother Kelly went to jail for kidnapping and selling South Africa

A South African woman convicted of kidnapping and trafficking of her six-year-old daughter was sentenced to life imprisonment along with her two accomplices.

Racquel “Kelly” Smith, her boyfriend Jacquen Appollis and their friend Steveno van Rhyn, have been in prison for more than a year, and Joshlin Smith mysteriously disappears outside Saldanha Bay near Cape Town.

Despite a highly publicized search of the girl who disappeared in February 2024, she has not found it yet.

South African prosecutors said she was sold to slavery, but that was not clearly proven during the trial.

Smith, who is addicted to drugs, is believed to need the money.

The sentence came after an eight-week trial that attracted South Africa, with witnesses and prosecutors filing many shocking charges.

Judge Nathan Erasmus said he had “no difference” when he passed the sentence.

He yelled in court with a loud applause: “According to human trafficking charges, you are sentenced to life imprisonment. In the case of kidnapping, you are sentenced to 10 years in prison.”

Judge Erasmus spent more than an hour bringing the judgment and measured it in a brief case summary and highlighting the key points that were prominent during the trial.

He scolded the trio, especially Van Rhyn and Smith, who said they had no regrets about their actions.

“I can't find a redemption or a worthy judgment,” he said.

He also talked about the impact of their actions on the Middle Persian community where the girls live, saying it “breaks” the residents.

Smith, 35, and her associates showed no emotion when they read the verdict at the Community Centre in Saldanha, where the trial was held to allow residents to participate in the lawsuit.

Police said the search for the little girl would continue, even beyond the South African border.

“We won't rest until (out) what happened to Joshlin,” Western Cape Police Commissioner Thembisile Patekile told local media.

The National Prosecution Agency (NPA) welcomed the judgment and praised its team's work to prove that Joshlin was “sold (and) delivered to the scheduled buyer” for the purpose of “exploitation, i.e. slavery or practice similar to slavery.”

During the trial, the identity of the “expected buyer” was never revealed.

The BBC asked the NPA for more details, but the spokesperson was unable to provide any details.

Emotion is high before the verdict, and angry community members say the three deserve “harsh sentences because they deserve this sentence.”

Before the verdict, Joshlin's grandmother, Amanda Smith-Daniels, once again begged her daughter to “bring back my (magnificent) child or tell me where she is.”

“I don't think any sentence they get will bring my grandson back,” she told local broadcaster Newzroom Afrika.

Ms. Smith Daniels said Joshlyn's disappearance “shattered” her family.

She urged her daughter to stop blaming others for her misfortune because she was “the person who made the deeds.”

During the trial, the court heard testimony from more than 30 witnesses who portrayed the troubled life of the young girl and the subsequent disappearance.

Kelly Smith and her associates refused to testify or call any witnesses in defense.

The most explosive were Smith's friends and neighbors, who turned to the state witness.

Ms. Lombakad claimed that Smith told her that she did “silly things” and sold Joshlin to a traditional therapist, known as “Sangoma” in South Africa.

Ms Lombakad told the court that “Joshlyn (allegedly) wanted her eyes and skin”.

A local pastor testified that in 2023, he heard Smith's mother of three – each selling her children for rand 20,000 ($1,100; £850), although she said she was willing to accept the lower number $275.

Joshlin's teacher then accused Smith in court of law during the search that her daughter had been “on the boat, inside the container, on their way to West Africa”.

The testimony of Ms. Lombard and the clergy was the key to ensuring the conviction.

During the sentencing hearing, Smith was described as manipulative, and someone told the “bald lie.” A social worker appointed to compile reports about Smith and his associates even said that this was not “the conclusion that (Kelly) Smith was the mastermind of trafficking his own daughter”.

The court also heard powerful statements from those who knew Joshlin about the devastating impact of her disappearance on the community.