Asylum seeker accused of killing migrant hotel worker with a screwdriver denies he was ‘euphoric’ after committing murder – and refuses to accept her blood was on his jacket, trousers and flip-flops

An asylum seeker accused of murdering a woman who worked at a hotel for immigrants today denied he was ‘excited’ to commit murder when he was seen dancing shortly after the fatal attack.

Sudanese national Deng Chol Majek, who claims to be 19, is on trial at Wolverhampton Crown Court accused of the “brutal” murder of 27-year-old Rhiannon Whyte, who was waiting to catch the train home after a late shift at the Park Inn Hotel in Walsall.

Miss Whyte was stabbed 23 times with a screwdriver on an empty platform at Bescot station at 11.13pm on October 20 last year. He died three days later.

Majek claims he was not the person seen on CCTV following Ms Whyte onto the platform that night and that his arrest was a case of mistaken identity.

Giving evidence today through an Arab Sudanese translator, Majek, wearing gray trousers and a blue sweatshirt with gray sleeves, told the court he had never spoken to Ms Whyte. He claimed he never left the hotel parking lot that night.

When presented with evidence that a forensic scientist had blood matching Ms Whyte’s on his jacket, trousers and flip-flops, as well as the woman’s DNA under her fingernails, he said: ‘I don’t accept… I don’t agree with all of that.’

Rejecting the forensic expert’s evidence, he told the jury: ‘There was no blood on any of my clothes.’

He was directed to a CCTV compilation from the night and denied that he was the one following Ms Whyte, repeatedly telling the jury: ‘That’s not me.’

Majek acknowledged that he was the person seen on CCTV sitting at the hotel and later standing in the hotel car park. The defendant also accepted that Ms Whyte was captured on mobile phone footage dancing and drinking alcohol in the hotel car park after she was attacked.

He said he was actually ‘sitting outside’ and ‘talking on the phone in the smoking area’ at the time of the attack.

“I wasn’t the one who injured him in any way,” he told the jury.

Born in Khartoum, the capital of Sudan, Majek said he was married and had a child, and that he fled his native Sudan in April 2022, when he was 16, leaving behind his pregnant wife, mother, father, seven sisters and three brothers.

He claimed that he had to leave Sudan because he was threatened by a man in the army after his family did not allow him to marry his sister.

Majek arrived in the UK in July 2024, three months before the attack, after touring Libya, Italy and then living in Germany for a while.

Court artist’s drawing of Deng Chol Majek giving evidence at Wolverhampton Crown Court today

Ms Whyte was attacked minutes after leaving work and died in hospital surrounded by her family

Gurdeep Garcha KC, defending, asked Majek: ‘This case relates to the attack on Rhiannon Whyte on 20 October 2024, in which she suffered injuries and died a few days later. ‘Were you at Bescot railway station when he was stabbed and fatally injured?’

“No,” he replied.

Mr Garcha asked: ‘Are you responsible for the fatal attack on the station platform?’

“No,” said Majek.

Mr Garcha asked Majek how he got along with the hotel staff and Majek replied: ‘I haven’t had any problems with anyone.’

The jury heard Ms Whyte worked odd jobs at the Park Inn hotel, including serving food and staffing the reception area.

But Majek said he never spoke to her directly and told the court he could not speak English at all. He claimed he never noticed Ms Whyte, who had dyed her hair blue at the time.

Mr Garcha asked: ‘Is there any reason why you would want to harm Riannon Whyte?’

“No,” Majek replied.

He denied intending to cause serious injury or kill her.

Asked what he was doing that night, the defendant said, ‘I was staying outside the hotel.’

He later added: ‘I never left the car park.’

Shortly after midnight, Majek said, he went to the hotel parking lot with a pair of speakers, where he danced, drank alcohol and smoked cigarettes with other asylum seekers.

He said he had bought beer from a store that evening, but denied that he was the one seen on security footage buying a can of beer minutes after the attack.

Mr Garcha asked: ‘When you were dancing and singing outside, was it because you were overjoyed about what you had done to Rhiannon Whyte a few minutes earlier?’

He replied: ‘No, I wasn’t the one who injured him in any way, I was playing music like normal and dancing like normal.’

Majek told the court he had no criminal history other than an incident in August 2023 in Kaiserslautern, Germany, where he was cautioned by police for kicking in the door of a train.

Jurors had previously heard that Majek was ‘drunk’ at the time and ‘kicked in the driver’s door and passenger door of a train’.

At that time, his identity document stated that his date of birth was January 1, 1998, but he gave the British authorities his date of birth as January 1, 2006. Majek told the court that a mistake had been made in Germany and that he was actually 19 years old.

When asked why he left Sudan, he told the court: ‘We had a problem with a person in the army, I had a problem with that person, so I had to go from the south of Sudan to the north of Sudan and from the north I went to Libya.

‘This person wanted to marry my sister, we refused, he started threatening us and we had to leave the area we were in from south to north.’

He said his entire family moved with him, but even though they were safe in Northern Sudan, he still decided to go to Europe because ‘I’ve been waiting.’ [the man in the army] He was going to follow us north, but I still thought he would come, and I left Sudan for the same reason.’

When asked why he applied for asylum in the UK, Majek said: ‘I was actually threatened in Sudan and it was dangerous for me to be in Sudan.’

His lawyer then pointed out that there was a war in Sudan and questioned whether that had affected his decision. To which Majek replied: ‘There was a war and I was threatened, so I left Sudan.’

Police were outside the Park Inn by Radisson Hotel in Bescot, Walsall, where Ms Whyte worked, following the attack.

Majek told the jury he shared a room with another asylum seeker at the Park Inn Hotel and said he spent three months there “doing nothing in particular” but was not working because he did not have a visa.

He denied having a screwdriver.

CCTV shown to the hearing allegedly captured Majek “staring at Rhiannon throughout the evening”.

When asked what he was doing that night while sitting at a table next to staff, he said he was listening to music and denied looking at Ms Whyte or trying to ‘intimidate’ or disturb staff.

‘I wasn’t looking at him,’ he said. ‘I was just listening to music and thinking about something else, I wasn’t really thinking about anything, I was just listening to music and sitting.’

He was then shown some CCTV footage which showed the moment, as the prosecution alleges, Ms Whyte hit him on the shoulder as he went out for a smoke shortly before the end of his shift.

Majek said: ‘I was just walking my own way, I didn’t hit anyone.’

Prosecutors had previously brought forward CCTV from around 11pm when Ms Whyte finished her shift; This showed Majek smoking directly in front of the front door instead of his usual smoking area.

When asked why he moved to that point, he replied: ‘That’s what people usually do; ‘They wander around, walk, then turn and then go out again.’

Asked if he had settled there to monitor the staff, he replied: ‘No, they weren’t even on my mind.’

Prosecutor Michelle Heeley KC, who opened the trial last week, told the jury that Majek was ‘hiding outside reception’ when Ms Whyte left the hotel at 11pm. He allegedly followed her to Bescot station, where she was to catch the last train to Walsall.

At the time of the attack, Ms Whyte was on the phone to a friend who heard three screams when she was shot ‘repeatedly’ at 11.13pm. The line was cut off shortly after.

He was found slumped on the platform by a train driver 11 minutes later, but was too seriously injured to be saved and died surrounded by his family on 23 October.

Ms Heeley said police tracked down the defendant “very quickly” because he was wearing “very different clothes” and arrested him at the hotel a short time later.

The court heard that CCTV footage of clothes, including the jacket worn by the attacker, jewelery and a pair of sandals were found to have Ms Whyte’s blood on them.

The jury was told Ms Whyte’s DNA was found under the defendant’s fingernails.

Majek denies murdering Ms Whyte and a second charge of possessing a screwdriver in a public place.

The trial continues.