TEEN'S KILLER GETS 27 YEARS

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

The Provincial Commissioner of the Western Cape, Lieutenant-General Thembisile Patekile praised the efforts of Sergeant Bradley Schuurman of the Anti-Gang Unit and the prosecution team who all contributed to the hefty sentence handed down to Matthew Yu on Friday 29 August 2025 in the Mitchells Plain Regional Court

Reports suggested that on 20 February 2019, the 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 succumbed to the injuries she sustained.

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

According to Daily Voice reporting, Ruwayda’s family said she was in the wrong place at the wrong time as stood with her brother and two friends next to a kragbox in Leeubekkie Street, Lentegeur on the fateful night.

Four alleged Fancy Boy gangsters opened fire on them on Tuesday at 9.35pm.

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

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

She was rushed to Mitchells Plain District Hospital, but died while doctors were operating on her.

Her parents revealed that the girl had been shot with a hollow point bullet which exploded in her body causing massive internal bleeding.

Her mother Kamielah told the Daily Voice that her daughter was not a gangster.

She 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.”