Rhiannon Whyte’s blood found on Deng Majek’s clothes, trial told

Blood from a murdered hotel worker was found on clothes, shoes and rings worn by an asylum seeker accused of stabbing her to death with a screwdriver, a forensic scientist has told a trial.

Giving evidence at Wolverhampton Crown Court, Elizabeth Simpson said the blood found on Deng Majek was a billion times more likely to come from Rhiannon Whyte than anyone else.

She also said the 27-year-old’s DNA was also found under the defendant’s fingernails.

Mr Majek denies murder, but Ms Simpson told the jury the only explanation for the presence of blood was that the defendant assaulted Ms Whyte, who was attacked at Bescot Stadium railway station in Walsall last October.

On Monday, Ms Simpson was called as a witness by prosecuting barrister Michelle Heeley KC.

The scientist told the court the DNA recovered from swabs of Mr Majek’s fingernails appeared to be a match for Ms Whyte.

Swabs were also taken from her fingernails and traces of his DNA were found.

Her blood was also found on five of the 19 rings recovered from Mr Majek, who is originally from Sudan.

Ms Simpson told the court the conclusion she drew from the blood on his possessions was that he “assaulted Rhiannon Whyte when she was injured and bleeding”, and could find no other explanation.

Defence counsel Gurdeep Garcha KC, cross-examining, said to Ms Simpson: “I’m going to put it to you that in fact you didn’t find any such blood on the jacket, and the evidence that you’ve given in relation to the findings is untrue.”

Ms Simpson replied that the scientific findings were that blood was found and was a DNA match against Ms Whyte.

Mr Garcha said again: “I explicitly put to you that the evidence is untrue.”

She replied: “I would disagree.”

The trial continues.