A 20-year-old man has been sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of Stellenbosch University student, Jesse Mitchell, whose life was cut short on his 19th birthday.
The Stellenbosch Regional Court on Monday found Rudolf Hufke guilty of murder and two counts of robbery after he entered into a plea and sentencing agreement with the State.
According to National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson Eric Ntabazalila, Hufke’s crimes had already begun a day before the murder. Hufke confessed to the aggravated robbery of an individual along Jan Cilliers Street in Stellenbosch in the afternoon of 15 October 2024, during which time he and an accomplice robbed a man of his backpack in a violent confrontation.
The following morning, in the early hours of 16 October, Hufke roamed Borcherd Street “looking for people he could accost and rob using a knife he carried”.
“CCTV footage then shows the deceased [Mitchell] 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,” said Ntabazalila.
In a statement, Ntabazalila said that the regional prosecutor William Da Gras told the court that forensic evidence, including Hufke’s fingerprints and DNA on the knife, linked him directly to the murder.
The video also showed Hufke “picking up the deceased’s backpack with his belongings” while Mitchell lay dying, before walking away.
“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 [previous] assault. The deceased’s promising life was brutally cut short on his birthday all for the euphoria of a drug induced high,” said Ntabazalila.
Hufke was sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder and 15 years each for the aggravated robbery cases, related to the theft of Mitchell’s belongings and the initial robbery on 15 October. Ntabazalila said the sentences would run concurrently.
Mitchell’s grandmother, Christina Mary Mitchell, said in a Victim Impact Statement that the tragedy “continues to haunt her”.
“My deep anxiety, too, is for the families of the current students. I wonder what the authorities are doing to improve protection of their students… It is my hope that the sentence should be a deterrent to possible perpetrators and an assurance to parents of the students of the safety of Stellenbosch,” said Mitchell.
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Western Cape Director of Public Prosecutions, Advocate Nicolette Bell, welcomed the sentence, praising investigators and prosecutors for their “sterling work” in securing the conviction.
