Smith’s disappearance from her home in the Middlepos informal settlement in Saldanha Bay sparked a major outcry 7 months ago.
Her biological mother Kelly Smith, her mother’s boyfriend Jacquen Appollis, and two others have been charged in connection with her case. The accused face charges of trafficking in persons with the purpose of exploitation and kidnapping. The matter was due to have been transferred to the High Court, but the State says they are duty-bound to probe the new evidence. The postponement has been marked as final.
National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Eric Ntabazalila says, “What could happen if they require more time next month; the court may ask for an inquiry to find our reasons are genuine and a reason for us to request that. But if we lose that inquiry and we are not granted a further postponement then we will take a decision on whether to transfer the case to the High Court.
The emphasis is that the case will not be withdrawn. We have enough evidence to continue and transfer the case to the High Court based on what we have at this stage, but the issue is the new evidence that necessitates that we ask for this postponement,” adds Ntabazalila. Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies.
Business Business Latest News, Business Business Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Source: SABCNews - 🏆 37. / 51 Read more »
Source: SABC News Online - 🏆 32. / 51 Read more »