Joshlin Smith trial: Jacquen Appollis details alleged police torture to implicate him
Accused number one, Jacquen Appollis, has detailed how police allegedly tortured him to implicate himself and the other accused in Joshlin's disappearance.
Jacquen Appollis, accused number one in the Joshlin Smith trial, testified at the Western Cape High Court sitting in the Saldanha Multi-Purpose Centre on 11 April 2025. Picture: Kayleen Morgan/EWN
CAPE TOWN - An accused in the Joshlin Smith trial says police manufactured a confession statement he made before he was arrested.
Accused number one, Jacquen Appollis, has detailed how police allegedly tortured him to implicate himself and the other accused in Joshlin's disappearance.
Appollis, Stevano van Rhyn and Joshlin's mother, Kelly Smith, are on trial for kidnapping and human trafficking in the Western Cape High Court sitting in the Saldanha multi-purpose center.
Jacquen Appollis testified on Friday that police told him what to say in his confession statement.
The accused says that after being repeatedly beaten by five men who were not in police uniform, he was asked if he knew a woman in Middlepos known as "Maka Lima".
Appollis says after confirming he knew the woman, who is a former accused named Phumza Sigaqa, he took police to her home.
The accused told the court that when he came back to the sea border offices, he saw Sigaqa being assaulted by female detectives.
"They told me I must tell Maka Lima that Stevano and I took the child to her. And I told Maka Lima."
He says detectives then instructed him to say Smith told him to take Joshlin to Sigaqa, who would give him R20,000 for the child.