Rudolph Hufke murdered Jesse Mitchell on his 19th birthday. His grandmother hopes the sentence deters future crime.
Stellenbosch University student Jesse Mitchell was brutally murdered on his 19th birthday last year and now his killer faces the consequences with a life sentence and 30 years behind bars.
The Stellenbosch Regional Court sentenced Rudolph Hufke to life imprisonment and 30 years direct imprisonment for murder and robbery with aggravating circumstances.
The court convicted the 20-year-old accused after he entered into a plea and sentencing agreement with the state.
Confessed to killing the BSc student
He confessed to murdering BSc student Mitchell and robbing Sikho Matimba with aggravating circumstances.
Hufke admitted that he and an accomplice were in Jan Cilliers Street, Stellenbosch, on 15 October 2024.
They saw Matimba approaching them that afternoon. The duo decided to rob him, so they walked past Matimba and turned around.
Hufke’s accomplice grabbed the victim’s backpack and pulled it off his back. Matimba resisted and the accused pulled out a knife and attacked him.
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The accomplice then ran away with the bag while the victim tried to fight back. However, Hufke hit the victim with a rock in the face and ran off to join his accomplice.
Early on 16 October 2024, Hufke was in Borcherd Street in Stellenbosch looking for someone to rob.
He was carrying a knife.
In court, the prosecution played CCTV footage showing the accused walking with a man and a woman.
He then moved away from them toward the road, as if to cross it.
Victim stabbed in the neck on his birthday
“The CCTV footage then shows the deceased riding past on his electric bicycle and it is at this stage that the accused stabbed him in the neck,” National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) regional spokesperson Eric Ntabazalila said.
“The electric bicycle does not stop immediately but travels for a distance before it crashes on the pavement.”
William Da Gras, the regional prosecutor, led investigating officer Detective Sergeant Calvin Mosses in court.
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Mosses said Hufke tried to pocket the knife, but it fell. The police picked up the knife later and found the accused’s fingerprints and DNA on it.
Further CCTV footage shows Hufke strolling towards where Mitchell fell and was dying.
The accused crossed the road toward where the victim fell. The headlights of a passing vehicle showed his silhouette as he picked up the deceased’s backpack containing belongings.
He then walked off.
Hufke preyed on ‘fragile, vulnerable and unprepared’ people
Da Gras said in the aggravating circumstances of the agreement that the accused preyed on people he considered fragile, vulnerable and unprepared, committing crimes with malice and intent.
“His unprovoked attack on the deceased was especially brutal and callous, as was his assault on Matimba,” Ntabazalila said.
“The deceased’s promising life was brutally cut short on his birthday, all for the euphoria of a drug-induced high.”
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Da Gras argued that Hufke’s reign of terror in Stellenbosch only ended because of his arrest.
The prosecutor said these offences profoundly affected the general public’s quality of life in greater Stellenbosch.
“He exhibits an alarming capacity for violence, a serious lack of self-control and has little prospect of rehabilitation,” Ntabazalila said.
‘Alarming capacity for violence and serious lack of self-control’
Da Gras emphasised that Hufke’s sentence must send a clear message that this type of violence will not be tolerated in a civilised constitutional society.
The court sentenced Hufke to life imprisonment for Mitchell’s murder. He received 15 years’ direct imprisonment for the robbery with aggravating circumstances.
It sentenced him to another 15 years of direct imprisonment for Matimba’s robbery with aggravating circumstances. The court ordered the sentences to run concurrently.
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Christina Mary Mitchell, the deceased’s grandmother, said in a victim impact statement that the day of her grandson’s death was especially painful for her and still bothers her.
The grandmother said Mitchell and a group of students worked late on his birthday. They were completing an assignment due the next day.
Hufke assaulted the 19-year-old in the early morning hours, leaving him dead on the ground.
Grandmother calls sentence a deterrent
“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,” the grandmother said.
Advocate Nicolette Bell, the Western Cape director of public prosecutions, praised the prosecution and investigative team for their excellent work which compelled the accused to enter a guilty plea because of the overwhelming and unavoidable evidence against him.
She also welcomed the sentence.
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