A child lost to evil: The horror of human trafficking

It is almost inconceivably evil that a mother could sell her child and then remain silent about where the buyers may have taken her.

Yet that is what Kelly Smith – mother of abducted six-year-old Joshlin – has done.

Despite being sentenced yesterday to life in prison, the tearful and emotional Smith said nothing which may have helped the authorities locate Joshlin.

That silence leaves two horrifying possibilities: that the child was murdered and her body cut up for muti or… that she was whisked into one of the underground channels of human trafficking.

In a way, it might be better if Joshlin was dead – not only to spare her whatever horrors the trafficked life might hold, but also so her family has closure.

There can be nothing worse than knowing a child – your child – will forever be lost to you.

ALSO READ: Joshlin Smith sentencing: Kelly and co-accused handed life sentences

This is what the families of the six girls who were reportedly abducted by Pretoria paedophile Gert van Rooyen and his partner, Joey Haarhoff, have had to endure for almost 40 years.

It’s the agony that Kate and Gerry McCann have had to endure since that day in 2007, when their three-year-old daughter Madeleine disappeared while the family was on holiday in Portugal.

The Joshlin Smith case has shone the spotlight on trafficking – not only of children, but of adults – which has become one of the most profitable organised crimes in the world… and is on the increase in South Africa.

We report today of a group of Ethiopians who were rescued from a house in northern Joburg where they were held captive by human traffickers.

Some of them were initially mistakenly arrested and put in handcuffs, adding to their trauma.

Trafficking is abominable. It seeks to steal not only the body, but also the soul – and future – of a person.

NOW READ: WATCH: The moment Joshlin Smith’s mother was sentenced to life in prison