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An asylum seeker who was later seen dancing and laughing Hotel employee stabbed 23 times He has been found guilty of murder on the railway station platform.
Matter developsThe man, originally from Sudan, was described by prosecutors as “completely senseless” after his frenzied attack on Rhiannon White on October 20 last year.
Whyte had finished work at the Park Inn hotel in Walsall, in the West Midlands, at 11pm when Majek tracked him on foot to the nearby Bescot Stadium station. He inflicted 19 wounds to her head, including a fatal blow to the brain stem.
Jurors at Wolverhampton Crown Court deliberated for two hours and five minutes on Friday before unanimously finding Majek guilty of murder and possession of a screwdriver as an offensive weapon. He showed no emotion in the dock when the verdict was returned.
The two-week trial heard that on the day Majek murdered Whyte, security at the Park Inn hotel was informed after staring “creepily” at three female staff members for a long time.
In CCTV footage shown at the trial, Majek can be seen walking up the bridge stairs leading to the platform, a few minutes after Whyte. He then disappeared from the scene, but jurors were told that was when the attack occurred.
27-year-old White was the mother of a five-year-old son. The driver and guard of a train that arrived about five minutes after the incident found him injured in a shelter on the platform, and he died in hospital three days later.
No motive for the murder was stated at the trial, but Majek had passed Whyte as he left the hotel for a smoke in the evening.
He is accused of lying in court about his age and claiming to be 19 years old, when authorities registered his age as 27 during an unsuccessful asylum claim in Germany.
Majek, who was 6 feet 3 inches tall and about 10 inches taller than Whyte, walked to the Caldmore Green area of Walsall to buy beer after the attack, and was recorded on CCTV apparently wiping blood from his trousers.
He returned to the hotel at 12.13am, changed his blood-stained flip-flops for trainers, and was seen dancing with other residents in the car park in front of the emergency vehicles called to the station.
A housing officer based at the hotel told jurors that Majek “seemed almost sad” before White was stabbed, and that he appeared to “come back to himself” after being taken to the hospital.
In her closing speech to the jury, prosecutor Michelle Healy Casey said Majek’s dismissal of the DNA evidence, as well as claiming not to be the man caught on CCTV wearing a specific jacket and flip-flops, was “ridiculous” and an insult to Whyte’s relatives who were listening from the public gallery.
Ms Healy said of Majek’s behavior after the murder: “He is celebrating: his mood has changed from shouting for a long time in the café before the murder to dancing and joy after the murder. It is completely senseless.”
Speaking in a joint interview, Whyte’s family said the year since his death had been “hell on earth”, but that they were focused on keeping alive the memory of their quirky and caring loved one, who “always put others before himself”.
He also talks about his grief at breaking the news of his death to his young son. Whyte’s sister Alex described the strength shown by her siblings, mother and wider family, saying: “It’s everything Rhiannon would have ever wanted. The strength we’ve had as a family, the positivity that’s been instilled in our children and her son. We promised her in the hospital that we would live the way she would have wanted us to live.”
Speaking to Sky News, Alex said: “Rhiannon had a very quirky personality. You’d hear her before you see her.
“No matter what kind of day she was having, she always wanted to make everyone around her happy. She always put family first. That was the most important thing to Rhiannon. Obviously, she has a brother and three sisters. And my mom, who was her best friend.”
Alex added: “No matter the situation, she always put others before herself.
“She’ll give you the last pound in her pocket. She’ll literally take the shirt off her back to give it to you. She’s with me. It was raining. I didn’t have a jacket. She gave me her hoodie, and she got wet and I stayed dry.”
Rhiannon’s mother, Siobhan Whyte, told how she had vowed to get justice for her daughter as Rhiannon remained seriously ill in hospital after the stabbing.
Asked what justice would look like after Majek was convicted of murder, Rhiannon’s mother said she believed he should serve his sentence in Britain, adding: “Life for life. None of this deportation.”
“I’m not against asylum seekers. But he took my daughter. She doesn’t deserve to be sent back to her country. [He should] Spend your time here every day of your life.”
Alex said: “I don’t think there will ever be enough justice in the world to replace Rhiannon. How can you ever put a time limit on how long someone should stay in prison? Whether they get the chance to live in this country or another country, Rhiannon’s life is priceless. No amount of time can match what we have lost.”