Murder-accused Sudanese asylum seeker speaks out on ‘hotel screwdriver attack’ | UK | News

The asylum seeker accused of murdering a hotel worker told a jury he was not at the train station where she was fatally stabbed and had no reason to harm or kill her. Deng Chol Majek told his trial that Rhiannon Whyte was “staying outside in the hotel” when she was attacked and that he did not speak to her during the three months she lived at the Park Inn hotel in Walsall.

Prosecutors allege Majek, who claimed to be 19, was caught on CCTV following Ms Whyte from the hotel to the nearby Bescot Stadium station, where she was stabbed 19 times in the head with a screwdriver on October 20 last year.

Majek, who denies murder and using the screwdriver as an offensive weapon, had his answers translated by a Sudanese Arabic translator when he gave evidence at Wolverhampton Crown Court on Tuesday.

Answering questions from defense KC Gurdeep Garcha, Majek said he “had no problems with anyone” at the hotel and did not notice Ms Whyte at all during his stay there.

As well as detailing his upbringing in Sudan, Majek confirmed he also spent time in Libya, Italy and Germany before arriving in the UK to seek asylum in July last year.

Mr Garcha asked Majek: “This case relates to the attack on Rhiannon Whyte on 20 October 2024. She died a few days later from injuries sustained in that attack. Were you at Bescot railway station when she was stabbed?”

Majek replied: “No.”

The defendant again answered “no” when asked whether he was “responsible for the deadly attack” on the platform.

When asked where he was at the time of the attack, Majek replied: “I was staying outside the hotel.”

Majek, who told the court that he was 19 years old and left Sudan when he was 16, stated that the incorrect date of birth determined by the authorities in Germany (which meant that he was actually 27 years old) was due to an error in his identity document.

Mr Garcha asked Majek how his relations with the staff were during the “three months or so” he spent at the hotel.

“I never had a problem with anyone,” he said, adding that he had not witnessed any other residents having problems with members of staff.

Answering questions specifically about Whyte, Majek claimed that he had never argued with the 27-year-old player and that there were no problems between them.

He then answered “no” to questions asked whether he had any reason to harm Ms Whyte or actually cause her serious injury or kill her.

After telling jurors that he didn’t have a screwdriver when he lived in the hotel, Majek was challenged to determine who was responsible for fixing things in the hotel room if anything came loose.

“The hotel staff told me that if anything broke, I should not fix it and report it to the staff,” Majek said.

The hearing heard allegations Majek stared at Ms Whyte and two female colleagues in a “creepy manner” for long periods and deliberately bumped into her at the hotel entrance shortly before the end of his shift.

Majek told the court there was no particular reason for him to eat alone in the hotel bar area and listen to music in the presence of workers.

Majek, who denied looking at Ms Whyte or trying to disturb staff, said: “I had no problems with anyone. I was just listening to music.”

“They weren’t on my mind and I was thinking of something else.”

After jurors were shown CCTV footage recorded at the hotel’s main entrance about an hour before Mr Whyte was attacked, Mr Garcha asked: “As you walked through the door, did you deliberately pass women coming from the other side?”

Majek said: “No I didn’t. I was just walking my own way. I didn’t hit anyone.”

The trial continues.