Western Cape Police have confirmed that the South African Police Service (SAPS) are in possession of pieces of clothing that are presumed to have belonged to Joshlin Smith, a Saldanha Bay child who went missing on 19 February.
As reported by Eyewitness News (EWN), the pieces of clothing were found in a blocked drain in Diazville, Saldanha Bay, along with ‘a sheet and a knife’.
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While it is currently unclear whether ‘the evidence forms part of the case of missing Joshlin Smith’, a report from Die Burger has stated that the blood-stained clothing were ‘found in a spot where one of the suspects arrested in connection with the six-year-old’s disappearance was spotted’.
The items will be sent for forensic analysis, to assist in the case.
Since her disappearance, SAPS have enlisted the help of drones, the navy and sniffer dogs, to locate her, but with no success, according to The Citizen.
Kelly Smith, Joshlin’s mother, alongside Jacquin “Boeta” Appollis, Kelly’s boyfriend, close friend Steveno van Rhyn and her Middelpos neighbour Lourentia “Renz” Lombaard have all been charged with human trafficking and kidnapping, in relation to the ongoing case.
They are due to appear in the Vredenburg Magistrate’s Court on 13 May.
In the meantime, Patriotic Alliance (PA) leader Gayton McKenzie ‘upped his reward’ for finding Joshlin to R1 million this week.
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Picture: SAPS / Supplied