Joshlin Smith (6) missing since February 2024 - possibly sold to "healer" due to her green eyes and pale skin

[Bewitchingstorm]

A 6-year-old girl who went missing last summer from her home in South Africa was possibly sold to a local healer who wanted her for her eye and skin color, a witness has testified in the criminal trial against the missing girl’s mother.

The BBC reports that a neighbor testified last week that Kelly Smith had confided in her about a plan to sell her 6-year-old daughter Joshlin Smith to a traditional healer who “wanted her for her eyes and skin.”

Joshlin, the green-eyed 6-year-old, went missing in February 2024. Her mother, Kelly, is currently on trial for kidnapping and human trafficking charges in the High Court in Saldanha on the Cape West Coast.

Smith’s boyfriend Jacquen Appollis and their friend Steveno van Rhyn are also on trial and have pleaded not guilty to human trafficking and kidnapping charges.

Several witnesses, including neighbor Lourentia Lombaard, a local pastor, and one of Joshlin’s teachers have testified that Smith confided in them about the idea of selling Joshlin or her two other children for money.

Lombaard, the Smiths’ neighbor and family friend, alleged in court last week that Smith had told her she sold Joshlin to a healer known as a “sangoma".

"I did something silly,” Lombaard recalled Smith saying, “I sold my child to a sangoma.” Lombaard then reportedly told the court Smith offered money to her and others who knew about the plan to sell Joshlin in exchange for their silence.

The neighbor also told the court she saw Smith pack a bag with Joshlin’s clothes and then saw the mother and daughter get into a white car with a woman outside their home.

Lombaard hypothesized to the court that the woman with Smith was the "person who [allegedly took] Joshlin wanted her for her eyes and skin”.

Joshlin’s teacher later testified that Smith had told her during the search for Joshlin that her daughter was "on a ship, inside a container, and they were on the way to West Africa,” according to BBC’s court report.

https://people.com/girl-missing-heal...-skin-11699654

[Bewitchingstorm]

Here's Joshlin; not sure why the picture is so big. She is absolutely beautiful.

[Nic B]

What in the ever loving fuck??

[Angiebla]

Jesus fucking christ. She is beautiful.

How can someone sell their child, not knowing what will happen to them? You would have to be a Psychopath.

I dont want to know why they picked her for lighter skin and beautiful eyes.

This makes me sick. She probably has no idea why her egg donor did this to her.