Asylum seeker who denies murder ‘found with woman’s DNA under his fingernails’

An asylum seeker who denies murdering a hotel worker was found with the woman’s DNA under his fingernails, a court has heard.

Deng Chol Majek, who is originally from Sudan and claims to be aged 19, is on trial charged with the murder of Rhiannon Skye Whyte at Walsall’s Bescot Stadium railway station in October last year.

Prosecutors at Wolverhampton Crown Court allege Majek, who also denies possessing a screwdriver as an offensive weapon, was repeatedly caught on CCTV as he followed the 27-year-old woman before stabbing her 23 times, mainly to the head.

Ms Whyte died three days after being found slumped on the platform by the guard of a train she was intending to catch, following her shift at the Park Inn hotel on Bescot Crescent.

Explaining details of the evidence levelled against Majek to the jury during the Crown’s opening speech on Tuesday, prosecution KC Michelle Heeley told the court: “The police were able to review the CCTV very quickly and they could see the defendant in his distinctive clothing.

“When they went to the hotel they found him and his clothes. They seized a number of items, including the jacket the attacker from the CCTV could be seen wearing.

“They recovered some jewellery and a pair of sandals.

“The jacket, a ring and the sandals had Rhiannon Whyte’s blood on them.

“There was a lot of blood because of the vicious nature of this attack. Rhiannon had been stabbed, in total, 23 times. Most of the stab injuries were to her head, but some were to the left side of her chest and left arm, indicating she had tried to fend off her attacker.

“Eleven of the stab wounds had penetrated her skull, one in particular had damaged the brain stem, which is what ultimately caused the death.

“The defendant’s fingernails were checked, he had DNA under them – the DNA belonged to Rhiannon Whyte.”

Telling jurors that the basis of Majek’s defence was identification, Ms Heeley said: “The defendant remained silent in interview.

“We now understand his case is that it was not him who murdered Rhiannon, although he does accept he was at the hotel that night.”

Ms Heeley showed jurors a compilation of CCTV footage of a male alleged to be Majek in the hotel’s reception area, with his hood up on a bridge near the station, and near a stretch of the River Tame from which Ms Whyte’s phone was retrieved by police divers.

The barrister added: “The prosecution say you can be sure that it was this defendant who murdered Rhiannon Whyte.

“His clothes have her blood on, his fingernails have her DNA under them. She had injuries from where she tried to defend herself.”

At the end of her opening speech, Ms Heeley said of the CCTV: “There is no one else on the platform. This defendant leaves minutes after the attack. It’s him.

“Please take all directions of law from the learned judge but the prosecution say this was murder because the person who attacked Rhiannon carried out a vicious and frenzied attack.

“They meant to seriously hurt Rhiannon, to kill her, and they carried out the attack by stabbing her repeatedly in the head with that offensive weapon.

“We say you can be sure it was this defendant and no one else. He is seen clearly on the CCTV staring at Rhiannon.

“This defendant has no answer to the prosecution case and you can be sure that he is guilty.”

The trial continues on Wednesday.