Jailed for life: Asylum seeker who brutally stabbed Rhiannon Whyte to death near Bescot train station locked up for at least 29 years
A man who stabbed a hotel worker to death after following her to a deserted Walsall railway station has been jailed for life.
Asylum seeker Deng Chol Majek stabbed mother of one Rhiannon Whyte 23 times on a platform at Bescot Stadium railway station on October 20, 2024.
He had followed her after she had finished work at the nearby Park Inn Hotel where he was staying and she worked. He had been in the country less than three months.
Ms Whyte, aged 27, suffered 19 wounds to the head including a fatal brain stem injury and died three days later.
Majek denied murder but was convicted at Wolverhampton Crown Court in October last year. He was also found guilty of possessing an offensive weapon.
At a packed Coventry Crown Court on Friday morning (January 30) he was jailed for life with a minimum term of 29 years, with judge Justice Michael Soole saying he could find no mitigation for the killer's actions.
He will serve at least 27 years and 264 days, after time spent on remand is taken off.
Majek is believed to have entered the UK on a small boat less than three months before launching a frenzied assault on Ms Whyte, stabbing her 23 times.
Majek is said to have tracked Ms Whyte to the station after she finished a shift at the Park Inn hotel at 11pm before inflicting 19 wounds to her head, including a fatal brain stem injury.
Ms Whyte’s family branded Majek “demonic and inhuman” in statements made in court on Friday as he was handed a life sentence.
CCTV played at Majek’s trial at Wolverhampton Crown Court showed he disappeared from view on to a deserted platform for 90 seconds at around 11.18pm to attack Ms Whyte, the mother of a young son.
She died in hospital three days later, after being found injured in a shelter on the platform by the driver and guard of a train which pulled in about five minutes after the attack.
Jurors deliberated for two hours and five minutes before unanimously convicting him of murder and possessing a screwdriver as an offensive weapon.
Majek is said to have lied to the court about his age, claiming to be 19 despite a date of birth making him 27 being recorded by authorities during a failed asylum claim in Germany.
Presiding, Mr Justice Soole said Majek maintained he was aged 18 when he entered the UK in July 2024 but age assessments had concluded he was actually aged between 25 and 28, with the judge sentencing him on the basis he was 26.
Ms Whyte’s family members arrived at Coventry Crown Court for the hearing wearing white t-shirts with her picture on it as groups of people waved England flags outside the building and far-right activist Tommy Robinson joined the crowds.
In an emotional statement to the court, Rhiannon’s sister said she was speaking on “behalf of me and my broken-hearted siblings Emma, Daniel and Cara, and Rhiannon’s two nieces and seven nephews; most importantly for her now six-year-old son”.
She said Majek carried out a “vicious and pitiless assault on a terrified and defenceless young woman who he claims never to have spoken to or noticed”.
Addressing Majek, who showed no emotion, Ms Whyte added: “I honestly feel that calling you demonic and inhuman is justifiable in the circumstances. What are we supposed to say? You brutalised Rhiannon and then partied as if nothing had happened. You celebrated. You might as well have danced on her grave.”
Rhiannon’s mother Donna Whyte also gave a statement in court, telling Majek “let me see you dancing now”.
She said: “Her name will not be forgotten, she will not be a distant memory. We will keep her alive in our memory. You, however, are an evil nightmare that will be put aside, known only for your cruel and malicious act.
“By the grace of God, I hope you never see the outside world again.”
