Reaching day 10, six-year-old Joshlin Smith from Diazville in Saldanha Bay remains missing since her disappearance on Monday, 19 February, when she was last seen at around 5pm.
Following an initial extensive search conducted by the South African Police Service (SAPS), which was scaled down on Wednesday afternoon due to the spread of false information, the City of Cape Town dispatched additional search resources in response to Saldanha Mayor Andre Truter’s request.
Also read: Joshlin Smith search: Reinforcements arrive in Saldanha
According to the president of the Patriotic Alliance, Gayton Mckenzie, both Joshlin’s mother, Kelly, and her boyfriend, Jacquin Appollis, have been cleared in the investigation after undergoing a polygraph test facilitated by Mckenzie.
‘The mom and boyfriend passed the lie detector test,’ he confirmed.
Mckenzie has been independently investigating the matter since Tuesday, 27 February, taking to Facebook with regular live updates. On Wednesday, he spent the day trying to find those implicated in Joshlin’s disappearance.
Mckenzie’s investigation found that three people were with Joshlin in the hour before her disappearance, apart from Kelly and Appollis.
Kelly told Mckenzie she returned home that afternoon and her boyfriend, who was supposed to be looking after Joshlin, was with Steven van Rhyn, reported IOL.
‘I told him to get the gas can and then I noticed Joshlin wasn’t at home. When I asked, he said she was around the area, playing.’
According to the publication, Kelly initially told the police that when she got home that afternoon, neither Joshlin nor Appollis were at home.
A woman implicated had reportedly sent the six-year-old to check on her children at her home.
During his investigation, Mckenzie spoke to Van Rhyn on Wednesday.
‘We smoked a quarter button. The woman got up and asked Joshlin to check if her other child was still sleeping in another hokkie. She left and then both of them were never seen after that,’ the publication quoted Van Rhyn as saying.
‘Kelly came home past 5pm and she didn’t look for Joshlin yet, and smoked tik. Past 7pm, she started looking for Joshlin,’ he added.
In his latest Facebook update, Mckenzie reported that Van Rhyn was, for the second time, taken in for questioning on Thursday evening.
Police spokesperson Malcolm Pojie told IOL that they would not distribute information ‘as it can hamper the ongoing investigation and, furthermore, in this case, it poses a potential safety risk to those involved’.
‘At this stage, we can confirm that the mother and her boyfriend are not the centre of our investigation,’ said Pojie.
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Picture: Gayton Mckenzie / Facebook