IT WAS chaos outside the Vredenburg Magistrates Court in Western Cape as community members forcefully tried to enter the court on Wednesday, 13 March.
Hundreds of people from Saldanha Bay, Vredenburg and surrounding areas came in their numbers to the court and demanded to be allowed to enter the court.
However, due to the limited space inside the court, police officers restricted the crowd to outside the courtyard.
This didn’t sit well with some people who started pushing and shoving at cops despite a razor wire brought to protect the court.
As the skirmishes continued, cops used teargas to disperse the crowd.
Residents were angry at the actions of the cops, saying that all they wanted was to be in court in support of the family of the missing girl.
“Cops can’t just throw teargas at us. What did we do wrong? We are here for Joslin and nothing else. Why are they fighting with us?
"We came from Saldanha to this court, but now we are not allowed inside the court. We didn’t come to stand here and do nothing,” said Gina Adriaanse from Saldanha Bay.
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Jacques “Boeta” Appolis (31), the boyfriend of Kelly Smith (33), who is the mother of the missing girl, appeared alongside Steveno Dumaizio Duwayne Van Rhyn (27) and Phumza Sigaqa.
The accused persons face charges of trafficking of persons for exploitation and kidnapping.
However, the case against the fourth suspect, Sigaqa, was withdrawn and was released.
The three other suspects abandoned their bail application and have been remanded to 13 May.
According to Kelly, Joslin, in grade one at Diazville Primary School, had not attended school on Monday. 19 February, the day she went missing since she was unwell.
She left her in the care of her boyfriend, Jacquin, as she went to work. When she returned, both the boyfriend and Joslin were not at home.
Jacquin returned without the child and said he didn't know where she was.
The mother opened a missing person case at the cop shop around 10 pm on the same day.
Since then, cops and community members have been hunting for the girl but with no success.
