Overview

• On May 29, 2025, a South African court sentenced Joshlin’s mother, Racquel ‘Kelly’ Smith, along with her partner and an associate, to life imprisonment plus ten years for human trafficking and kidnapping.
• Evidence at the two-month trial showed that Smith sold her six-year-old daughter in February 2024 for roughly 20,000 rand (about €1,000) to a traditional healer attracted by the child’s light skin and green eyes.
• The proceedings were moved to a local community centre to accommodate high public interest, during which Smith’s long-term drug dependency and lack of remorse were documented through multiple witness testimonies.
• Joshlin remains missing more than a year after vanishing from Saldanha Bay, underscoring South Africa’s broader crisis in which over 8,700 children have been reported missing in the past decade.
• Authorities have identified the traditional healer buyer, who is scheduled to stand trial next on trafficking charges as investigators continue the search for Joshlin.