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'We still don't have' Joshlin Smith, says NPA as fourth accused chooses not to apply for bail

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Residents gather outside the Vredenburg Magistrate's Court. (Jenni Evans/News24)
Residents gather outside the Vredenburg Magistrate's Court. (Jenni Evans/News24)
  • One of the people implicated in the disappearance of 6-year-old Joshlin Smith appeared in the Vredenburg Magistrate's Court on Monday.
  • Lourentia Lombaard, 31, was set to apply for bail but she changed her mind.
  • There are no details on what Lombaard admitted in a confession she made.

The woman who was arrested in connection with the disappearance of 6-year-old Joshlin Smith has abandoned the option of applying for bail.

The State alleges that Lourentia Lombaard was part of the kidnapping and trafficking of Joshlin.

She responded with a simple "yes" when asked to confirm this in the Vredenburg Magistrate's Court on Monday. 

The case was postponed to 15 May.

She seemed to be shivering in her pink top and black leggings while cameras surrounded her.

Joshlin disappeared on 19 February, and her mother, Kelly Smith, as well as her co-accused, Jacquen "Boeta" Appolis and Steveno van Rhyn, were arrested after a long search.

Her mother said the child did not go to school that day and when she arrived home after work, she was missing. 

They also abandoned the option to apply for bail. 

There was no further word of what Lombaard may have "confessed" to, nor information on the child's whereabouts.

Lombaard faces Schedule 6 charges which carry a life sentence so she would have had to show exceptional circumstances to justify bail.

National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Eric Ntabazalila said information on the "confession" by Lombaard will only be revealed in court.

"The earliest is if one of them applies for bail."

The investigation continues.

"We still don't have the child. We still don't know where the child is," he added.

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