Kelly Smith plans to study education, takes up sewing and modelling in prison - IOL

Joshlin's mother, Kelly Smith during the high-profile trial in Saldanha.

After over a year of incarceration, Kelly Smith seems to be living a good life behind bars. 

Smith made headlines in 2024 after she was arrested and charged with the kidnapping and trafficking of her daughter, Joshlin Smith, from Saldanha. 

On Thursday, search activist Rev June Dolley-Major revealed new evidence and called for renewed forensic testing and a thorough search of the Saldanha dunes. She revealed several items that have been verified as Joshlin’s that were found while searching after the court case concluded. 

The then six-year-old Joshlin, who was in Grade 1 at Diazville Primary School, was last seen just after 5pm at her home in Middelpos on February 19, 2024.

Joshlin Smith was last seen on February 19,2024.

A month later, Joshlin’s mother, Kelly Smith, her boyfriend, Jacquen ‘Boeta’ Appollis, and their friend Steveno van Rhyn were arrested.

On May 2, 2025, Kelly, Boeta, and van Rhyn were convicted on charges of kidnapping and trafficking in persons.

They were sentenced to life imprisonment for trafficking in persons, plus 10 years for the kidnapping, on May 29, 2025. 

Speaking to IOL, Dolley-Major revealed that she has visited Kelly, who is being detained at the Worcester Female Correctional Centre. 

Appollis and van Rhyn are currently detained at Brandvlei Prison. 

Reverend June Dolley-Major held a briefing in Cape Town on Thursday.

When asked how Kelly was holding up, Dolley-Major said: “She’s hoping to get an appeal”. 

“I have been to Kelly as recently as three weeks ago. Her story remains the same: ‘I know nothing’. I went there three weeks ago because she had asked for prayer and communion. I will not deny anyone communion. It was a spiritual visit three weeks ago,” Dolley-Major said. 

She also stated a private investigator visited Kelly. 

“She said the private investigator was by her, and he said Boeta and Steveno were fighting [in prison], and Steveno said he was not going to sit for life in prison for something Boeta did,” Dolley-Major said. 

When asked if Kelly ever asks about her other children, she said: “I don’t think she has seen them, but she does ask about them”.

According to Dolley-Major, during a normal visit, she dropped a detail that made Kelly go pale. 

“Remember, she doesn’t have access to what was found afterwards. She constantly says she doesn’t know anything. She never sold her child. She remembers things in parrot fashion. It’s word for word, verbatim,” Dolley-Major said. 

She then dropped the bombshell that a yellow ribbon, believed to belong to Joshlin, was found in the dunes with a bloodstain on. 

“So I mentioned the ribbon and that it was found. She got this twitch in her eye; her whole facial expression changed. She is fair, but she went pale-pale. She started shaking. Then I knew something was up. Then she said: ‘Maar Boeta het gesê sy het nie ‘n lint aan gehad nie’ (Boeta said she wasn’t wearing a ribbon). I told her I did not want to hear about Boeta, because you saw her,” Dolley-Major. 

Jacquen Appollis, Steveno van Rhyn and Kelly Smith were sentenced in May 2025.

During the trial, it was revealed that Kelly had seen her daughter before she disappeared. 

“She told me she never saw Joshlin. I kept quiet. Then, minutes later, she said she will never forget the last thing she remembers about Joshlin was when she and the little girl went there, and Joshlin said: ‘bye mommy’. I thought to myself, but you just told me you never saw her,” Dolley-Major explained. 

The activist said she feels pressure must be placed on the trio as cracks are starting to show. 

“I feel like they are going to turn on each other because it looks as if Kelly and Steveno are blaming Boeta. They must put pressure on them,” she said. 

Dolley-Major also revealed that Kelly aspires to enter the education sector as she wants to further her studies from prison. 

“She said she wants to study education. I told her adult education because she will not be able to work with children. She has also taken up sewing in prison and modelling,” Dolley-Major told IOL.