This is the moment an asylum seeker allegedly barged into a hotel worker whom he is accused of stabbing to death with a screwdriver hours later.
Sudanese national Deng Chol Majek, who claims he is 19, is on trial at Wolverhampton Crown Court accused of the ‘vicious’ murder of Rhiannon Whyte, 27, who worked at the migrant hotel where he had been living in Walsall.
Ms Whyte was stabbed 23 times with a screwdriver on a deserted train platform after finishing her late shift at the hotel on October 20 last year. She died three days later.
Mr Majek denies murdering Ms Whyte and a second charge of possessing a screwdriver in a public place.
Giving evidence today, her colleague at the hotel, Claire Taylor-Bevans, described how the defendant had been staring in an ‘intimidating’ manner at staff, including Ms Whyte, in the hours before the attack.
Later in the evening, she claimed the same man who had been staring at them barged into Ms Whyte as he walked past them out of the hotel, prompting Ms Whyte to remark: ‘What the f***?’
CCTV of the incident was played to the court today, showing Ms Whyte, Ms Taylor-Bevans and their colleague Jamie Leigh Bannister walking through the hotel entrance at 9.13pm after having a break outside.
The man alleged to be the defendant can be seen walking past them in the opposite direction and bumping shoulders with Ms Whyte, who can be seen reacting in indignation.
It came as a friend of Ms Whyte who was on the phone to her when she was attacked described hearing three screams before the line went dead.
Emma Cowley told police in a recorded interview that was played to the court that she had phoned Ms Whyte for a catch up as she walked to the station.
But, suddenly, the line went dead.
She said: ‘I just remember there was a silence – and she’s not one to just go silent. I said “are you still there?” and I didn’t hear anything and then I heard a scream.
‘It was a really high-pitched, terrified, in-pain scream.
‘I always try to think positively and was thinking “oh maybe it’s just someone that’s drunk on the platform with her”.
‘I could hear heavy breathing, but there was nothing else that I could hear, then there was more silence and I heard another scream.
‘I was like, “Rhiannon, is that you? Are you OK? Rhiannon?”, then a little bit of silence again, and then another scream, and then it was just silence.
‘It was then that my husband ran in with his phone and said “ring the police now”. I was in shock, I was panicking – I didn’t know how to handle it.’
She added: ‘It was just like such a high-pitched, terrified, surprised, sort of like when someone creeps up on you – it was a very terrified screech.
‘I think I went into shock. It started sinking in that, actually, I don’t think she’s safe here, I think something’s happened.
‘I heard three screams. It was like an agony sort of scream.’
CCTV captured the moment Majek allegedly barged into Rhiannon Whyte as he walked past her at the entrance to the Park Inn Hotel where he was living
Ms Whyte can be seen reacting with indignation after the man alleged to be Majek bumped shoulders with her
Jurors were shown CCTV of a man who is alleged to be Majek (right) staring at Rhiannon Whyte (left) at the Park Inn Hotel in Walsall hours before she was murdered
Ms Whyte was attacked moments after leaving work and died in hospital with her family by her side
Police outside the Park Inn by Radisson Hotel in Bescot, Walsall – where Ms Whyte worked – in the aftermath of the attack
Ms Taylor-Bevans also told the jury that Ms Whyte had been carrying a rape alarm and pepper spray with her that night.
Ms Whyte even joked about using the pepper spray on the defendant after she noticed him staring at them, her colleague said.
‘We were laughing and joking about it and she said ‘do you think it would reach him?’,’ Ms Taylor-Bevans told the jury.
Ms Whyte was referring to a man – the prosecution allege was Majek – who had been fixing staff with a ‘spooky’ stare for several hours.
Ms Taylor-Bevans said she had grown so concerned by the man’s staring that she alerted the hotel’s security.
She told the court: ‘I said ‘we all felt intimidated by him so can you keep an eye on him?’, I pulled the girls away from reception because we felt intimidated.’
A hotel chef earlier broke down in tears as she told a jury ‘loner’ Majek was staring at staff ‘like he was planning something’ hours before he allegedly murdered her colleague.
Louise Brittle worked in the kitchen of the Park Inn Hotel, Walsall, where Deng Chol Majek had been living in October last year, after it was turned into a migrant hotel.
Giving evidence today, Ms Brittle described how the defendant had been staring at her, Ms Whyte and their other colleagues at the hotel in the hours before the fatal stabbing.
She told the court: ‘It was like he was planning something. It was really scary. It was like he was going to do something that night, that’s how scared I felt.’
The hotel chef, Ms Brittle, earlier told the court about an incident the night before the attack, when Ms Whyte had been reduced to tears after being verbally abused by another asylum seeker living at the hotel.
The other migrant, who was not named in court, was said to have called Ms Whyte a ‘f***ing b****’ after she had served him biscuits he did not like.
‘He threw his biscuits back at her and swore at her,’ Ms Brittle said. She said she later found Ms Whyte outside the hotel, shocked and upset.
The next day, Ms Brittle said she had seen a man – who prosecutors allege was Malek – sitting in the reception of the hotel from around 5pm, staring at staff.
She described how she had been unsettled by the intensity of the man’s stare.
‘I noticed there was a dark-skinned man, tall, sitting propped up at the high tables, he was sitting relaxed on the high chair, one arm on the table,’ she told the jury.
‘He was just staring. He was staring towards us at the bar area.
‘I came out of the kitchen and I noticed him straight away.’
She described how she had turned her chair at the bar to face away from the man so she could express her concerns to her colleague Claire Taylor-Bevans.
‘He was just staring through us, eyes wide open and he couldn’t take his eyes off any of us,’ she said.
‘I said to Claire ‘why is this person staring towards all of us?’. I said how scary it felt, the way he was staring at us.’
She added: ‘It was like he was planning something. It was really scary. It was like he was going to do something that night, that’s how scared I felt.’
Footage shown in court captures Ms Whyte walking across the empty car park at 11.10pm
Just over a minute later, CCTV shows a person alleged to be the defendant following Ms Whyte with their hood up
She said she knew the man did not have many friends at the hotel.
‘I recognised him, he had been there around three months at the hotel. He never interacted with many people, he was kind of a loner,’ she said.
Ms Brittle became emotional as she recalled how she finished her shift before Ms Whyte and gave her a ‘kiss and a cuddle’ before leaving.
As she left, she said she saw the man again wearing a silver hooded top with the hood pulled up. She learnt about Ms Whyte’s fate from her manager the next day.
Ms Brittle was shown an image of the man who had been arrested.
‘I actually asked for the image,’ she told the court. ‘I was shown the exact image that I still have in my mind. It was of the person sitting opposite the bar area that night, staring at us all.’
Opening the trial on Monday, prosecutor Michelle Heeley KC told jurors that Majek followed Ms Whyte to a deserted platform at Bescott station, where he stabbed her 23 times with a screwdriver as she waited to catch a late train on October 20 last year.
Ms Whyte had been on the phone to a friend, who heard two screams as she was struck ‘over and over again’ at 11.13pm. The line went dead shortly afterwards.
She was found by a train driver slumped on the platform 11 minutes later, but was too seriously injured to be saved and died surrounded by family on October 23.
Ms Heeley said: ‘He left her bleeding to death and then casually went back to his hotel.’
After Ms Whyte was attacked, Majek allegedly stopped on his way back to the hotel to buy alcohol and was later seen ‘seen dancing and laughing, clearly excited about what he had done’, the prosecutor said.
The trial continues.
