Asylum seeker denies killing Rhiannon Whyte and says CCTV ‘not me’

An asylum seeker accused of murdering a hotel worker by stabbing her with a screwdriver at a railway station has told a court he had no interaction with the victim.

Deng Majek, originally from Sudan, denies killing Rhiannon Whyte, 27, who worked at Walsall’s Park Inn hotel, where he was living.

Jurors at Wolverhampton Crown Court have heard he was seen on CCTV following Ms Whyte to Bescot Stadium station, but Mr Majek denied he was in the footage and said repeatedly: “No, that’s not me.”

Ms Whyte, stabbed 23 times, died three days after being attacked on 20 October 2024.

Mr Majek, who gave evidence through an interpreter, was asked about his contact with Ms Whyte at the hotel, including whether they spoke, if he had seen her, or had any reason to harm her. To each question, Mr Majek replied: “No.”

Earlier in the trial, jurors had heard claims Mr Majek deliberately stared at female staff members, but he denied doing so, along with claims he had deliberately pushed past them.

He said: “I was just walking my own path.”

Defence counsel Gurdeep Garcha KC asked Mr Majek about CCTV that allegedly showed him at the station, but the defendant said it wasn’t him.

Mr Garcha said images showed a person walk towards Platform 2 at 23:17 BST and return 90 seconds later, asking: “In those 90 seconds or so, did you attack Rhiannon Whyte?”

Mr Majek said: “It wasn’t me.”

Mr Garcha asked: “Did you cause the injuries from which she later died in that time?”

Mr Majek replied: “No.”

Mr Majek said when Ms Whyte was attacked at 23:19, he was “outside the hotel in the smoking area”.

Asked if he left the hotel premises on the day, Mr Majek agreed that he had gone to buy beer, before it got dark.

Mr Garcha asked if he visited any other businesses later in the evening and Mr Majek replied: “No.”

The court heard phone footage showed him dancing and drinking with other people outside the hotel that night, with a drink in his hand.

Mr Majek said he was holding a coffee from the hotel and beer bought from the shop earlier in the day.

Jurors heard phone footage from the hotel car park showed emergency blue lights at the train station.

Mr Majek said: “I saw the blue lights but I didn’t know there was a problem.”

Mr Garcha asked if he knew they were treating someone who had been seriously injured, and Mr Majek said: “No.”

Referring to his dancing, the barrister asked: “Is that because you are euphoric at what you’d done to Rhiannon Whyte a few minutes earlier?”

However, the defendant replied: “I was playing music and dancing like normal.”The court heard footage showed Mr Majek go to his room at 00:33 and leave at 00:37, having swapped flip-flops for white trainers.

Mr Majek said: “I was planning to go back outside and it was cold outside so I decided to wear trainers.”

Asked if he changed because the flip-flops had blood on them, he said: “No.”

Jurors heard Mr Majek went to bed at 01:43 and put his clothes in a box.

The defendant said the jacket was still clean, so it went in the box with a “man bag” he’d worn earlier.

“Had you put the jacket into the box because it had blood on it?,” Mr Garcha asked.

Mr Majek said: “No, and it wasn’t me who assaulted her. This is what I do every day. I put my stuff in the box.”

He said he did not accept Ms Whyte’s blood was found on a jacket recovered from his room and on his trousers and flip-flops, or that her DNA was on his rings and under his fingernails.

In cross-examination, he confirmed to prosecution counsel Michelle Heeley KC he wore the same clothes all night and did not change them.

Ms Heeley asked how Ms Whyte’s blood got on his jacket, but he replied: “My jacket didn’t have any blood on it.”

He said his sandals and rings had no blood on them.

Ms Heeley then asked Mr Majek whether he was in CCTV footage of a man recorded buying OJ Beer from a shop at 23:48, to which he said he was not.

The prosecutor then showed him a CCTV image of a man outside a shop and said: “Look the jury in the eye and tell them that’s not you.”

Mr Majek faced the jury and said: “That’s not me.”

The trial continues.