The lawyer representing Jacquen Appollis in the Joshlin Smith’s kidnapping and human trafficking case had insisted that his client’s actions were influenced by drugs.

Court proceedings in mitigation and aggravation of sentence got under way earlier today in the High Court in Saldanha.

Kelly Smith, Jacquen Appollis and Steveno Van Rhyn were found guilty in the disappearance of the little girl in the Middelpos Informal Settlement in Saldanha Bay, in February last year.

In mitigating for sentence, lawyer Fannie Harmse submitted that Appollis was not in his logical thinking because he was high on drugs and shouldn’t be regarded as not being remorseful.

He told the court that his client did not participate in the sale of Joshlin.

“That was in a state of being intoxicated with drugs. In practical terms, one must bear in mind that he was not in the right logical thinking, not in the logical mind. I think that can be sufficiently assumed and accepted.”

Sentencing in Joshlin Smith case expected on Thursday: Vanessa Poonah