Relatives of Rhiannon Whyte vow to stay strong as a tribute to her memory

The family of Rhiannon Whyte say the year since her death has been “hell on earth” – but they remain focused on keeping alive the memory of their quirky and caring loved one who “would always put everyone else before herself.”

In a pooled interview, Rhiannon’s mother and one of her sisters also spoke of the heartache of having to break the news of the hotel worker’s death to her five-year-old son.

Siobhan Whyte described how she pledged to get justice for her daughter, as she lay critically ill in hospital in the days after being stabbed, while Rhiannon’s sister Alex Whyte said the strength and positivity shown by family members over the past year was also something they had promised her.

Sudanese asylum seeker Deng Chol Majek was convicted of Rhiannon’s murder on Friday after jurors heard that he attacked her with a screwdriver at a deserted train station while he was on one of its platforms for only around 90 seconds.

Speaking to Sky News correspondent Frazer Maude, Alex said: “Rhiannon had such a quirky personality. You would hear her before you’d see her.

“No matter what her day had been, she always wanted to make everyone else around her happy. She always prioritised family. That was the most important thing to Rhiannon. Obviously, she has a brother and three sisters. And my mum, who was her best friend.”

It was always important to Rhiannon to “keep that unity” with her four siblings, Alex said.

“Rhiannon is the second youngest,” she added. “But our baby sister would always say I’m your big little sister because Rhiannon was very soft.

“So, no matter what, we always wanted to protect her. That was our priority most of our life because Rhiannon never saw danger – Rhiannon never understood how scary the world really could be. But no matter what Rhiannon was just happy, always.”

Rhiannon was a very caring person, Alex said, adding: “She would always put everyone else before herself, no matter what the situation was.

“She would give you her last pound in her pocket. She would literally take her shirt off her back to give it to you. She has with me. It was raining. I didn’t have a jacket. She gave me her hoodie and she ended up soaked and I was dry.”

Asked if her caring side had played a part in where she chose to work, Alex continued: “Absolutely, Rhiannon always wanted to help anyone and everyone, no matter what situation you came from.

“Rhiannon just wanted to be a support. And the hotel was a way of her giving that to a wider community.

“Rhiannon made friends really fast, no matter where she went. And then with the service users, she would often sit with them and have conversations, and spend a lot of time having jokes with staff and service users.”

Majek’s trial at Wolverhampton Crown Court was told that his victim had walked from the Park Inn hotel to Walsall’s Bescot Stadium station, where he stabbed her more than 20 times, including 19 wounds to the head, and left her for dead on October 20 last year.

Medics tried to stabilise her condition at Birmingham’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital, but she died from a brain stem injury three days later.

Alex Whyte said: “We were assured by Rhiannon and by some of her friends that worked with her in the hotel, that there was a lot of security.

“Rhiannon was often walked to the train station by a member of staff. So, no – Rhiannon was never afraid. And when there was an incident the night before this incident, she called us.

“She spoke with our baby sister on the phone and she told her that this had happened. And we had conversations with her, but she felt confident enough that it was dealt with and she was OK to go back to work.”

The family members said Rhiannon, who had worked at the hotel for around three months, would sometimes get an Uber home if she had just been paid, while a colleague who was a very close friend of hers would give her a lift home if they were working the same shift.

“They’d stop and get nails done together, they’d go for lunch – Rhiannon had close bonds,” Alex said. “Getting the train wasn’t abnormal for her.

“It’s a three-minute journey on the train to get home to our mom. Why would she ever be afraid of that?”

Recalling the night of the murder, when Rhiannon’s best friend called Siobhan to tell her that she had heard screams during a phone call, Alex said: “I didn’t receive the initial phone call.

“It was actually my mum who received the phone call from Rhiannon’s best friend. And then my sisters were calling my phone. So, obviously we all got on family group chat, which we were all a part of, to figure out what was going on.

“At that time we couldn’t locate Rhiannon. We didn’t know which hospital she’d been taken to or anything.

“I drove straight from my house to pick my mum up because I was the closest. And that’s when we found out she’d been taken to Birmingham. Initially, the police told us she was going to have life-changing or life-threatening wounds.

“I think disbelief was probably the first feeling all of us felt. So, me and my sisters have always said we had, like a telepathy. We’ve always know when each other are hurt, sad, mad, and we would automatically pick up the phone. That night was different because we never felt anything.

“And I think, initially, that’s what made us realise this was a lot worse than we could ever imagine.”

Alex recalls how she called other siblings to get to the hospital to “say goodbye” as Rhiannon was given six hours to live, but “Rhiannon being Rhiannon continued to fight no matter what” and clung to life until October 23.

Alex said: “She was never going to give up easy. So to have those precious moments with her just proves her strength.”

Siobhan said: “It was a lot of relatives, friends in and out. So we all got a chance to say goodbye.”

Describing the family’s anguish, Rhiannon’s mother said it had been “hell, hell on earth” – adding: “The worst part is not only losing her. It’s the nieces and nephews and her son.

“They’re struggling because they miss her. For no reason – he’s taken her away for nothing.”

Asked how they had coped having to tell Rhiannon’s young son, Alex broke down as she recalled how she had picked him up for school before a half-term holiday and took him home to explain what had happened.

Siobhan said: “He asked if Rhiannon was okay because he knew that we were at the hospital. Alex had to explain to him.”

Alex, one of Rhiannon’s older sisters, said: “I initially explained to him that she had a poorly brain, and we tried really hard, and the doctors tried really hard, but they couldn’t fix her brain, so she had to go to heaven.

“The scream that left that child that day will haunt me for the rest of my life.”

Siobhan added: “Alex had to explain that it was a bad man. I’ve never heard a child cry like that and I never want to hear a child cry like that again.

“We had to lay in bed with him, didn’t we, that night and comfort him.”

The family members said Rhiannon’s son, who the family do not wish to be named in reports, just wanted stories about his mother and how much she loved him.

Alex said she told the youngster that no matter where Rhiannon was on this earth or any other place, she was always going to love him because that’s all she ever gave him – love and happy memories.

“He never knew darkness when she was around,” she said.

“We’ve got so many funny stories that we’ve already started telling him, but he’s so similar to her in every way. He’s got the most amazing blue eyes that Rhiannon had. The way he laughs is exactly her laugh. So he already knows that he is her through and through.”

Siobhan added: “He loves being with family. He loves being with his aunties, his uncles, because they talk about her and then they take his mind off it. But how do you explain to a five, now six-year-old, that? We can’t. She’s just gone to heaven.”

Alex continued: “We always say we are so lucky to have him because we’ve always got a piece of her. Although she’s in every single one of us. He is her. So we get to watch her grow all over again and he will achieve everything she ever wanted.”

Family members’ strength since Rhiannon’s death was what Rhiannon would have wanted, Alex said, telling Sky News: “This is everything that Rhiannon would have ever wanted. The strength that we’ve kept as a family, the positivity that is instilled in our children and in her son. We promised her in the hospital we were going to live the way she wanted us to live.”

Siobhan said family members, who were focused on keeping their loved one’s memory alive and making a positive change in her memory, had promised Rhiannon justice.

Asked what her feelings are towards Majek, who came to the UK from Germany in July last year and claimed asylum, Alex said: “Do you know what? People would sit here and they would say, I hate him – I just feel nothing but anger.

“But at this moment in time I feel nothing. Because regardless of who it is that did this to her, we lost a sister. My mum lost a daughter. It could have been anybody who did this.

“Our energy isn’t in him and it never will be in him.

“It’s about keeping Rhiannon’s memory alive and making a positive change in her memory.”

Siobhan added: “We still wake up every day. Why are we doing this? Why do we have to do this? Yesterday was the anniversary of the attack and it was just gruesome. It’s just like … I can’t explain.”

Alex said: “I think we just find a lot of comfort. Like we will often leave court. We will all then get on family FaceTime.

“We will talk to each other. We’ll share memories of Rhiannon we digest from the day. We try to make the positive out of this negative.

“We need to find strength. And we’ve all said Rhiannon has left the strangest of signs everywhere to keep us strong. And we owe her that.”

Asked what justice would look like after Majek’s conviction for murder, Rhiannon’s mother said she believed he should serve his sentence in the UK, adding: “Life for a life. None of this deportation.

“I’m not against asylum seekers. But he’s taken my daughter away. He doesn’t deserve to be sent back to his own country …. serve his time here, every day of his life.”

Giving her view, Alex went on: “I don’t think there’ll ever be enough justice in the world to replace Rhiannon. How could you ever put a timeline on how long someone should be in jail?

“Whether they get to remain in this country or any other country, Rhiannon’s life is priceless. There is no amount of time that will ever, ever equate to what we’ve lost.”

Siobhan said: “We have to learn how to live without her and he gets to live. And that’s not fair.”

Alex concluded: “But we will keep Rhiannon’s memory alive. This case is not the last you’ll hear of Rhiannon. There is a lot we have planned as a family. We hold memorials. We do a lot together to keep Rhiannon’s memory alive.”