Teen’s killer gets 27 years in prison

AN ALLEGED Fancy Boys gang member has been sentenced to 27 years for the murder of Mitchells Plain teen Ruwayda van Rheede in 2019.

Provincial Police Commissioner Lieutenant-General Thembisile Patekile praised the efforts of Sergeant Bradley Schuurman of the Anti-Gang Unit and the prosecution team who contributed to the hefty sentence handed down to Matthew Yu on Friday in the Mitchells Plain Regional Court.

Reports suggested that on February 20, 2019, 18-year-old van Rheede was with friends when gang members fired numerous gunshots at occupants of an address in Lentegeur. 

She was transported to a nearby hospital where she died of her injuries.

Yu was convicted on murder, attempted murder, unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition charges and sentenced to 27 years behind bars.

According to the Daily Voice, the teen's family said she was in the wrong place at the wrong time as she stood with her brother and two friends next to an electrical box in Leeubekkie Street, Lentegeur on the fateful night.

Four alleged gangsters opened fire on them.

A police source said two of the three men the girl was standing with were suspected gangsters and one of them fired back at their attackers.

Ten shots were fired and Ruwayda was shot in the hip.

Her mother, Kamielah said: “She was at the wrong place at the wrong time. We do think the people she was with were probably the targets.”

“The doctors said she was shot with a hollow point bullet which ruptured inside her and caused internal bleeding.”

Cape Times