Jacquen ‘Boeta’ Appollis’ lawyer argued that it doesn’t make sense that his client jumped out of the police van, as earlier claims suggested.
Advocate Fanie Harmse said this as he cross-examined a detective in the Joshlin Smith trial in the Western Cape High Court on Tuesday.
Detective Dawid Johannes Fortuin has been on the stand since Monday morning.
He said he had been involved in the case since March 3, 2024, after the six-year-old went missing on February 19, 2024.
She was under the care of Appollis when she vanished in Middelpos, Saldanha Bay.
Her mother, Racquel ‘Kelly’ Smith, her boyfriend Appollis, and friend Steveno ‘Steffie’ van Rhyn are facing kidnapping and human trafficking charges. They all pleaded not guilty.
The matter is in the trial-within-a-trial phase after Appollis and Van Rhyn claimed their confession was coerced, they were assaulted, and tortured.
Fortuin told the court sitting in the White City Multipurpose Centre in Diazville that he didn’t know anything about the alleged torture of Appollis.
Harmse claimed Appollis had no injuries before arriving at Sea Border, citing planned testimony from his mother, sister, and sister-in-law, who were with him at the Hoedjiesbaai Hotel before his arrest.
Fortuin said he couldn’t comment on that as he was not there.
He testified that during a later interview on March 6, 2024, when he took Appollis’s warning statement, he noticed injuries.
“The accused said he fell from a police van,” Fortuin explained, adding that “the accused pointed to a red eye, scuff marks on his face, left arm, forearms, left knee and foot, and claimed he had internal injuries.”
Harmse suggested there was no possibility that the accused could have sustained those injuries by falling or jumping from a vehicle, as previously suggested.
Fortuin responded: “He said he got the injuries before he was arrested. I didn’t ask for more detail. In my experience, I’ve had similar injuries before, and I accepted his version.”
Presiding officer judge Nathan Erasmus said none of the witnesses testified about the accused being transported in a police van.
The trial continues.
Cape Argus