Asylum seeker seen drinking in car park after hotel worker’s murder, court told

An asylum seeker appeared to be “having a good time” while smoking and drinking with friends in a car park after allegedly stabbing a hotel worker, a murder trial jury has heard.

Prosecutors allege Deng Chol Majek was seen dancing and laughing after using a screwdriver to stab Rhiannon Skye Whyte more than 20 times on a platform at Walsall’s Bescot Stadium station.

Jurors have heard that Majek, who is from Sudan and claims to be 19, was caught on CCTV as he tailed Ms Whyte from the town’s Park Inn hotel, then being used to house asylum seekers, to the station at about 11.15pm on October 20 last year.

Ms Whyte, aged 27, died in hospital three days after being stabbed, having suffered a fatal puncture wound which penetrated her skull and brain stem.

Giving evidence on the third day of Majek’s trial, hotel housing officer Tyler English said Majek – who he knew as “DC” – “almost seemed sad” before Ms Whyte was stabbed and appeared to be “back to himself” in a car park after she was taken to hospital.

Jurors heard Mr English saw “DC” inside the hotel between 9pm and 10pm, and later went from there to the station, where he put Ms Whyte in the recovery position, after being alerted by two other residents.

Mr English, whose office was near the entrance to the hotel, said: “Normally what I would do is just go around and check the morale of everybody that’s there.

“That’s when I noticed he wasn’t, I guess, in the best of moods. So I just asked are you OK? There was no response.”

The witness went on to describe how he returned to the hotel after spending about an hour at the station assisting police, railway staff and Ms Whyte.

“Shortly after Rhiannon had been taken to hospital I went back to the hotel, again just doing due diligence,” he said. “That’s when I saw ‘DC’ again with a few others.

“It was in the parking lot near the side of the hotel.”

Asked by prosecutor Michelle Heeley KC what the man was doing at that stage, Mr English told Wolverhampton Crown Court: “At this point it was just like drinking, smoking and just chatting amongst his group of friends.”

Music was being played through a speaker, Mr English said, and the group were “almost like having a good time in a sense”.

Asked how Majek’s mood had seemed then compared with when he was inside the hotel, Mr English replied: “His mood was definitely a lot better seeing him in the parking lot versus earlier in the evening.

“I went up to the group including him and kind of like shook their hands.”

During cross-examination from defence KC Gurdeep Garcha, Mr English said Majek, who is being assisted in court by an Arabic interpreter, could hold “fluent” conversations in English.

Majek appeared to be “back to himself” when he was in the car park and “seemed happier than before”, Mr English added.

Mr Garcha asked: “He seemed perfectly happy to be seen in a public place?” Mr English answered: “Yeah.”

Consultant forensic pathologist Dr Brett Lockyer also gave evidence to the trial on Thursday.

He told the court that Ms Whyte had suffered numerous “criss-cross-shaped” wounds suggesting the use of a screwdriver, including 19 puncture injuries to her head, 11 of which had gone into the skull and one of which had entered the brain.

Asked what force he believed the fatal wound to the brain had been inflicted with, Dr Lockyer said: “I can only opine that the level of force would be at least moderate but I cannot exclude the possibility of more severe force.”

Majek denies murder and possessing a screwdriver as an offensive weapon. The trial continues.