Accused number one in the Joshlin Smith trial has told the Western Cape High Court, sitting at Saldanha on the West Coast, that he lied in his confession statement.

A trial within a trial to determine the admissibility of confessions of the accused, Jacquen Appollis and Steveno Van Rhyn’s statement is under way. Appollis and accused number two, Steveno Van Rhyn, claim police tortured and coerced them into making the confessions.

Appollis told the court on Friday that he was forced by police officers to say that he and Steveno Van Rhyn were instructed by Kelly to take Joshlin to a sangoma for an amount of R20 000.

Appollis has told the court that he lied about some of the portions in his statement. He now says he made up that story because he was scared. He said he had to make up the story to sound real. Presiding Judge, Nathan Erasmus, quizzed Appollis.

“If I understood you, it’s while you were telling the story you just made up on the fly. Do I understand you correctly. So, when you went to sit down there you didn’t have a story in your head? You just had the part that police told you what to say. Why did you find it necessary to add finer details?”

“I had to make it sound like a story my Lord,” Erasmus replied.

Appollis’ version of how he sustained his injuries was once again put under the spotlight by the state. The state has accused Appollis of lying to the court and making up his statement.

“Mr Appollis explained he sustained his injuries jumping in and out of a police van. That doesn’t make sense. It’s obvious that he didn’t jumping in and out of a police van from the 4th to the 6th of March 2024,” State Prosecutor, Advocate Aradhana Heeramun said.

Meanwhile, accused number two, Steveno Van Rhyn, has detailed in court how the people, who he says looked like police officers, beat him on his private parts in March last year.

Van Rhyn told the court that he was taken to Jacobs Bay’s Beach in Saldanha, where he was beaten after he said that he doesn’t know where Joshlin is.

“After you said you don’t know, what did they do? They hit me and pitch and they said that’s not what they wanted to hear. Because the first time they said that I must open my mouth and they placed a firearm in my mouth. That has never happened before in my life my Lord” Rhyn said.

The trial will resumes on Wednesday with Van Rhyn back on the witness stand.

VIDEO | The Joshlin Smith kidnapping trial continues – 15 April 2025