Woman Gets Life Sentence For Trafficking 6-Year-Old Daughter

A South African mother has been handed a life sentence for selling her 6-year-old daughter so a "traditional healer" could cut out and use her skin and eyeballs.

Racquel "Kelly" Smith was found guilty earlier in May of abducting and trafficking her daughter, Joshlin Smith. The mother of three, 35, her boyfriend Jacquen Appollis, and his friend Steveno van Rhyn were also found guilty and sentenced to life.

The sentences came over a year after Joshlin disappeared suspiciously from her Saldanha Bay house near Cape Town in February 2024, The New York Post reported.

Each of them received a concurrent 10-year prison sentence for kidnapping.

Despite a thorough nationwide search, Joshlin or her body was yet to be found.

During the sentencing, Smith admitted to selling her daughter for 20,000 rand ($1,100) to a traditional healer known as a “sangoma,” who claimed to be interested in the girl's “eyes and skin.”

Judge Nathan Erasmus stated in court that Smith was deceptive and had displayed "no indication of remorse" or concern about her daughter's absence.

The mother-of-three remained emotionless as her sentence was delivered, ending an eight-week trial that had to be rescheduled to a nearby stadium so that appalled community members could watch.

The courtroom erupted in applause as the verdict was announced. The court interpreter was overcome with emotion when translating the victim impact statements into English.

Smith was seen with sympathy when her daughter first disappeared, and images of the girl's bright green eyes, pigtails, and wide smile spread across the country.

A government minister offered a one-million-rand ($54,000) prize for Joshlin's safe return. But sympathy for her dissipated when prosecutors claimed that Smith sold her child to a healer.

Witnesses, including the girl's former teacher and a preacher, said that Smith informed them of the child's impending sale as early as 2023.

According to testimony during the trial, Smith allegedly informed Joshlin's teacher that she was "on a ship, inside a container, and they were on the way to West Africa," per PEOPLE.

The current search for Joshlin has now spread beyond South Africa.