The state and defence in the Joshlin Smith trial may have been the victims of cyberbullying. That is according to Judge Nathan Erasmus as the fifth week of the trial into the child’s disappearance got underway in the high court sitting in Saldanha Bay on the Cape West Coast.

Judge Erasmus says stories spread by people include that he himself was a part of Joshlin’s disappearance.

He says it must be the signs of the times that people can stoop so low.

“I have been informed that both on the side of the state as well as the defence they have been the victims of cyberbullying, including AI manipulation of video material that’s been placed in the public domain. I don’t take kindly to it … [because] it undermines the court process.”

Live stream: