STELLENBOSCH UNIVERSITY STUDENT KILLER SENTENCED TO LIFE IMPRISONMENT

04 NOVEMBER 2025

STELLENBOSCH UNIVERSITY STUDENT KILLER SENTENCED TO LIFE IMPRISONMENT

Stellenbosch, South Africa; The Stellenbosch Regional Court has sentenced Stellenbosch University student murderer, Rudolph Hufke, to life imprisonment and 30 years direct imprisonment and declared him unfit to possess a firearm. The court convicted the 20-year-old accused after he entered into a plea and sentencing agreement with the State where he confessed to the murder and robbery with aggravating circumstances of Stellenbosch University BSc student, Jesse Mitchell, and the robbery with aggravating circumstances of Sikho Matimba.

Hufke confessed that on the afternoon of 15 October 2024, he and an accomplice were in Jan Cilliers Street, Stellenbosch, when they spotted Matimba heading towards them. They decided to rob him. They walked past him and turned around. His accomplice grabbed his backpack and pulled off his back. Matimba resisted and the accused pulled out a knife and attempted to attack him. His accomplice ran away with the bag. Matimba attempted to fight back but the accused hit him with a rock in the face. Hufke ran away and joined his accomplice.

In the early hours of the next day, 16 October 2024, he was in Borcherd Street, Stellenbosch, looking for people, he could accost and rob using a knife he carried. In CCTV footage played in court, the accused is seen walking with a man and a woman before moving away from them towards the road, as if to cross it. The CCTV footage then shows the deceased riding past in his electric bicycle, and it is at this stage that the accused stabbed him in the neck. The electric bicycle does not stop immediately but travels for a distance before it crashes on the pavement.

Regional prosecutor William Da Gras led the investigating officer Detective Sergeant Calvin Mosses who pointed out that the accused attempted to push the knife the knife he used into his pocket, but it fell on the ground. Police picked it up later and found the accused fingerprints and DNA on the knife. The accused is seen on the video strolling towards the direction where the deceased fell and was dying. 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. In the aggravating factors in the agreement, Da Gras argued that the offences were committed with malice and forethought, and the accused preyed on victims he regarded as weak, vulnerable, and blindsided. His unprovoked attack on the deceased was especially brutal and callous as was his assault on Matimba. The deceased’s promising 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. These offences sent shockwaves throughout the greater Stellenbosch area and negatively affected the general public’s quality of life. He exhibits an alarming capacity for violence and a serious lack of self-control and has little prospects of rehabilitation. The sentence imposed must send a clear message and unambiguous message that this type of barbaric violence will not be tolerated in a civilized Constitutional society. There are no substantial and compelling circumstances justifying a sentence less than the prescribed minimum sentences.

The court sentence Hufke to life imprisonment for Mitchell’s murder, 15 years direct imprisonment for the deceased’s robbery with aggravating circumstance. It sentenced him to another 15 years direct imprisonment for Matimba’s robbery with aggravating circumstances. It ordered the sentences to run concurrently.

In a Victim Impact Statement, the deceased’s grandmother, Christina Mary Mitchell, wrote that the day of her grandson was particularly upsetting for her and continues to haunt her. It was her grandson’s 19th birthday; he had worked as he and a group pf other students worked until late on an assignment they were to submit the next day. He was attacked in the early hours, left on the ground dead. 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, Adv Nicolette Bell, welcomed the sentence and 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.

Issued by:

Eric Ntabazalila

National Prosecuting Authority

Regional Communications Manager – Western Cape

Tel: (021) 487 7308

Mobile: 073 062 1222