Inside Education Reporter
The Stellenbosch Regional Court has sentenced Stellenbosch University student Rudolph Hufke to life imprisonment plus 30 years for the murder and robbery of fellow student Jesse Mitchell, who was killed on his birthday, and the separate robbery of another victim.
Twenty-year-old Hufke entered into a plea and sentencing agreement with the State. The court also declared him unfit to possess a firearm.
Hufke confessed to killing Mitchell, a 19-year-old BSc student, and robbing both Mitchell and Sikho Matimba during a violent 24-hour spree in October 2024.
He admitted to carrying out both attacks in the university town’s streets while armed with a knife.
According to the plea agreement, on the afternoon of 15 October 2024, Hufke and an accomplice were walking along Jan Cilliers Street when they spotted Matimba approaching.
“They decided to rob him,” the State said.
After walking past him, Hufke’s accomplice “grabbed his backpack and pulled [it] off his back”.
When Matimba resisted, Hufke pulled out a knife and tried to stab him.
Matimba fought back, but Hufke struck him in the face with a rock before fleeing with his accomplice, who had run off with the stolen bag.
In the early hours of the following morning, Hufke went hunting for more victims along Borcherd Street.
CCTV footage presented in court showed him walking with a man and woman before turning away. Moments later, Mitchell rode past on an electric bicycle. The footage captured Hufke stabbing him in the neck.
Regional prosecutor William Da Gras, who led the State’s case alongside investigating officer Detective Sergeant Calvin Mosses, told the court that Hufke had attempted to conceal the weapon.
“The accused attempted to push the knife he used into his pocket, but it fell on the ground,” Da Gras said.
Police later recovered the knife and confirmed that “the accused’s fingerprints and DNA” were found on it.
The footage also showed Hufke strolling toward where Mitchell had collapsed and died. “He crosses the road towards where the deceased fell, and the headlight of a passing vehicle shows his silhouette where he picks up the deceased’s backpack with his belongings. He then walks off,” said Da Gras.
Prosecutors described the crimes as deliberate and vicious.
In aggravation of sentence, Da Gras told the court that “the offences were committed with malice and forethought, and the accused preyed on victims he regarded as weak, vulnerable, and blindsided”.
He said Hufke’s “unprovoked attack on the deceased was especially brutal and callous as was his assault on Matimba,” adding that Mitchell’s life “was brutally cut short on his birthday all for the euphoria of a drug induced high”.
“He conducted a reign of terror in the Stellenbosch area which was only abated following his arrest,” Da Gras said, adding that the crimes sent shockwaves throughout the greater Stellenbosch area.
He described Hufke as having “an alarming capacity for violence and a serious lack of self-control,” and said there was little prospect of rehabilitation.
“There are no substantial and compelling circumstances justifying a sentence less than the prescribed minimum sentences”.
The court sentenced Hufke to life imprisonment for Mitchell’s murder, 15 years’ direct imprisonment for the robbery with aggravating circumstances of Mitchell, and another 15 years for the robbery of Matimba. The sentences will run concurrently.
In a Victim Impact Statement read in court, Mitchell’s grandmother, Christina Mary Mitchell, said the murder continued to haunt her.
“My deep anxiety is for the families of current students. I hope the sentence pronounced should be a deterrent to perpetrators and an assurance to parents of students of the safety of Stellenbosch.”
Western Cape Director of Public Prosecutions, Advocate Nicolette Bell, welcomed the ruling.
She “applauded the prosecution and investigation team for the sterling work they did which forced the accused to plead guilty due to the inescapable and mounting evidence against him,” said National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson, Eric Ntabazalila.
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