Reuters
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The South African mother and two accomplices were sentenced to life in prison Thursday for trafficking their six-year-old daughter if they gained national attention since their child disappeared last year.
Kelly Smith, her boyfriend Jakuen Apolis, and her friend Steveno Van Lynn were convicted of luring and trafficking a girl, Josh Lynn Smith, after disappearing from a small town in the Western Cape.
At a trial that shocked the country, witnesses said Kelly Smith sold her daughter to a sangoma, or a traditional healer for R20,000 ($1,100), and that the girl said she wanted her “eyes and skin.”
Joshlyn Smith has yet to be found despite extensive police searches.
Judge Nathan Erasmus, who announced their sentences on Thursday, said the fact that Kelly Smith, Appollis and Van Rhyn are drug users is no excuse.
“There is nothing I can find redemption and that is more redemption and valuable than the harshest sentence I can impose,” Erasmus said.
For the invitation, the three were given 10 years’ prison conditions.
