Nigeria, May 30 -- A South African woman, Racquel "Kelly" Smith, 34, along with her boyfriend, Jacquen Appollis, and friend, Steveno van Rhyn, were sentenced to life imprisonment on Thursday, May 29, for the human trafficking and kidnapping of her missing 6-year-old daughter, Joshlin Smith.

The Western Cape High Court in Saldanha Bay gave the maximum sentence following a year-long investigation and trial that revealed disturbing details surrounding the girl's disappearance in February 2024.

"There is nothing that I can find that is redeeming and deserving of a lesser sentence than the harshest I can impose," Judge Nathan Erasmus, who presided over the sentencing, declared.

All three were sentenced to life in prison for human traffickin...