One of the people who employed Racquel “Kelly” Smith — mother of missing child Joshlin Smith — as a domestic worker said despite the hardships the mother of three was going through she had been a “good mother”.

“I felt sorry for Kelly, I could see what she was going through,” Carlien Ziggers told the high court sitting in Saldanha Bay on Monday.

Ziggers, known as “Auntie Carlien”, testified that she and her daughter who lived in Diazville had employed Kelly and had known her for four years.

“Circumstances brought Kelly to my house. She struggled a lot and that is why I reached out to her and her children. My interests were not much in Kelly, but in her children,” she said.

“She came to my house with her children every day and if I needed something to be done, I would ask her, but out of pity I let her and her children come to my house. I gave them something to eat each day if they came, and that’s how I came to know Kelly.

“Kelly has lovely children, and she raised her children well, I’ll say this again ... I felt sorry for Kelly, and I saw what she was going through, I am also a mother. During her difficult times she was a good mother to her children, and I just reached out to her and her children.”

Judge Nathan Erasmus noted that Smith, who is facing kidnapping and human trafficking charges, had become emotional during this testimony and adjourned court proceedings so she could be comforted.

The court also heard Smith would take on other cleaning jobs, however those employers did not want her children there, so Smith would then leave them with Ziggers or in the care of her boyfriend, co-accused Jacquin Appollis.

On the day six-year-old Joshlin went missing more than a year ago, Smith arrived earlier than usual and she had not taken the child and her brother to school. Ziggers confirmed giving Smith R50 and later that day R150 to refill a gas container.   

Later that evening, Smith called her to ask if she had seen Joshlin. During her testimony, state prosecutor Zelda Swanepoel asked if she knew Smith used drugs. “In the beginning I knew she was using drugs, but I let her come to my house, because of the circumstances of her children,” she replied. 

She said Smith was a very chatty person.

Witness Natasha Andrews, known as Joshlin’s “grootmaak ma”, testified that her and Smith's parents had attended the same church. 

“Sometimes Joshlin would come for a weekend, sometimes she stayed longer. During the December 2023/January 2024 school holidays Joshlin stayed by me, Kelly did not visit, nor did I take her home, only before school started,” said Andrews.

She and her husband had planned to adopt Joshlin as a baby. “We could not go forward with the process as Kelly and Joshlin’s biological father, Jose [Emke], would not allow it, but Kelly and I went to a social worker in Saldanha. However we could not go forward with the paperwork as Kelly and Jose did not agree.”

Andrews wanted to adopt Joshlin due to frequent fights between Smith and Emke. She worried something would happen to Joshlin.

Andrews said her family could have provided a safe environment, had stable finances and wanted to add Joshlin to her funeral policy as a beneficiary. 

The court heard Smith had previously been admitted to a facility for women and children abuse and a rehabilitation centre.

“The social worker would bring Joshlin to me when Jose and Kelly fought. Joshlin stayed by me when Kelly was once at rehab and on three occasions when they fought when Joshlin was a baby,” she said.

“Kelly visited on and off during this time as Joshlin was able to stay with her at the abuse centre and she was in rehab for drug abuse.”

She spoke to Smith when Joshlin stayed over but was not dressed appropriately or had messy hair.

“Tassa, I don't know where Joshlin is,” Smith said when she visited her in Pollsmoor Prison.

The trial continues on Tuesday.