Joslin Smith Trial: Accused Admits to Lying During Trial-Within-a-Trial

• Jacquin Appollis, one of the accused on trial for Joslin Smith's disappearance, struggled on the stand
• A trial-within-a-trial is currently underway to determine whether Appollis and co-accused Steveno Van Rhyn's confessions were coerced
• Appollis struggled to keep his story straight and admitted that he lied during his testimony

With nine years’ experience, Tebogo Mokwena, a current affairs writer for Briefly News, provided insights into the criminal justice system, crime statistics and high-profile cases in South Africa at Daily Sun.

SALDANHA BAY, WESTERN CAPE — Jacquin "Boeta" Appollis, one of the accused on trial for Joslin Smith's disappearance, admitted on 15 April 2025 that he lied.

What did Appollis say?

Appollis was testifying at the White City Multipurpose Centre in Saldanha Bay in the Western Cape, where the Western Cape High Court held a sitting. Appollis, his associate Steveno Van Rhyn and Kelly Smith have been charged with human trafficking and kidnapping. Joslin Smith went missing in February 2024 and the trio were arrested a month later.

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Appollis' lies

Appollis and Van Rhyn claimed that they were tortured into making confessions, and a trial-within-a-trial commenced to determine whether their allegations were true. Appollis' testimony has been under the microscope as he struggled to provide a logical sequence of events. Appollis admitted that he lied to the court, made up stories or can't remember details.

He claimed that the police told him to implicate Kelly Smith and Makalima, an unknown person allegedly involved in the case. However, he failed to instruct his counsel to question the police on these allegations.

Appollis also said Kelly told him that she was tired of being pressurised by Joslin's father to give her back to the woman who was raising her. This turned out to be a lie. Appollis also admitted that he lied about leaving Joslin at Makalima's house with four other children. He said he lied to make it more believable.

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What you need to know about Joslin Smith's trial

• State witness Laurentia Lombaard cracked under cross examination after she revealed different versions of the testimonies she gave
• She alleged that she and her boyfriend were beaten and assaulted by the police for three weeks after she was arrested
• Kelly Smith's lawyer, Rinesh Sivnarian, accused Lombaard and her boyfriend of being behind Joslin's disappearance
• Appollis took the stand and testified that he was assaulted by the police after his arrest
• However, a police officer who testified denied that the police assaulted Jacquin Appollis

Lawyer claims client was asleep during confession to the police

In a related article, Briefly News reported that one of the defence lawyers said her client was asleep while providing a confession to the police. Nobahle Mkabayi, representing Van Rhyn, used video recordings of the confessions.

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The recordings had moments where Van Rhyn's eyes were closed. She argued that he was asleep, and the judge quickly rebuked her and said her assertions were misleading and not in line with the footage.

Source: Briefly News