3 hours ago
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An asylum seeker accused of murdering a hotel worker told a jury in Wolverhampton he had no reason to want to harm or kill her and was not at the scene of the attack.
Deng Chol Majek, who said he was 19, denies attacking and murdering Rhiannon Skye Whyte with a screwdriver at Bescot Stadium railway station, West Midlands, last October.
Whyte, 27, who was working at the nearby Park Inn hotel, near Walsall, where asylum seekers were staying, died three days after the attack.
Majek, speaking via a Sudanese Arabic interpreter at Wolverhampton crown court, told the jury he was outside the hotel in the smoking area at the time of the attack.
He said he had no problems with Whyte and denied speaking to her during his three-month stay at the hotel. “I never had any problem with anyone,” he told the jury.
Asked if had any reason to want to harm, cause serious injury, or kill Whyte, Majek responded: “No”.
Prosecutors previously said CCTV footage showed Majek following Whyte to the station where he attacked her and left her “bleeding to death”.
The defence dispute the identity of the individual in the CCTV.
The jury were shown footage of a man visiting a shop after the attack.
“Look at this jury in the eye and tell them that’s not you,” Michelle Heeley KC said on Tuesday, during her cross-examination. Majek responded: “That’s not me.”
Majek told the jury he joined a group of men in the hotel car park later on the night of the attack. The court was shown footage of the car park, where Majek can be seen dancing.
His defence barrister, Gurdeep Garcha KC, asked Majek: “When you were on the car park dancing and singing is that because you were euphoric at what you had done to Rhiannon Whyte?”
Majek responded: “No. It wasn’t me who injured her. I was playing music like normal and was just dancing like normal.”
Majek also denied owning a screwdriver, after prosecutors alleged he had stabbed Whyte 23 times.
Earlier in the trial, the jury heard from forensic scientist who said Whyte’s blood had been found on clothes, shoes and a ring worn by Majek.
Asked on Tuesday about the evidence, the Sudanese national told the court his jacket did not have blood on it.
The jury also learned further details about Majek’s journey to the UK. He said he left Sudan at the age of 16 in April 2022, and claimed asylum in the UK after arriving in July 2024.
Majek, who confirmed he was married and had a child, said he travelled from Sudan to Libya, Italy and Germany before arriving in the UK in July 2024. He told the jury a mistake on his identity document in Germany incorrectly classified him as being 27.
He denied having any previous criminal convictions, cautions or reprimands.
The trial continues.
