By: Natasha Archary
Angry community members in Saldanha Bay are clashing with police outside the Vredenburg Magistrates Court ahead of court proceedings in the Joslin Smith case.
On Wednesday, 13 March Joslin’s mother Kelly Smith, her boyfriend Jacquin Appollis and two others are expected back in court where they will face charges of kidnapping and human trafficking.
This after the four were detained for questioning in the 6-year old’s disappearance under suspicion that Kelly Smith sold her daughter for drugs.
Barbed wire barricades have barred community members who showed up at the court in large numbers from getting close to the court.
Police fired stun grenades to disperse rowdy crowds outside the Vredenburg Magistrates Court who demanded that community representatives be allowed inside the court precinct to follow court proceedings.
Community members are demanding that Oom Biza, popular comedian and one of the people on the ground leading the search for Joslin from day 1 be allowed into the court.
Joslin’s case has drawn nationwide attention, and the community are calling for justice for the little girl who her mother claimed went missing on 19 February whilst under the care of Appollis.
Three weeks later and searches for the green-eyed girl have not been fruitful and there is still no word as to what happened to her.
Kelly Smith and her boyfriend are Tik users (crystal meth) and it is alleged that the pair sold the child for R20 000.
On 02 March, blood-stained clothing believed to be that of Joslin’s was found a few kilometres from the Diazville informal settlement that Joslin is said to have gone missing from.
