A Sudanese migrant has been found guilty of murdering a 27-year-old asylum hotel worker in central England. He followed her from the hotel and stabbed her 23 times with a screwdriver, including in her skull.
Last October, 19-year-old Deng Chol Majek followed Rhiannon Whyte after her shift at the Park Inn Hotel to a nearby railroad station, where he stabbed her 23 times with a screwdriver in the head, chest, and arm. Whyte, who was on the phone with a friend during the attack, died three days later in the hospital.
Majek was convicted based on DNA evidence, witness statements, and security footage showing him following Whyte and returning to the hotel with his clothes covered in blood. Hotel staff reported that Majek had previously stared at Whyte and other employees in a “scary” and “spooky” manner. CCTV footage captured him fleeing the station and later drinking and dancing in the hotel parking lot, which prosecutors described as “callous” behavior.
"He attacked her for no reason, and callously left her bleeding on a station platform. He then appeared to rejoice in his actions, having been caught laughing and dancing on footage an hour later," prosecutor Carla Harris said.
Majek denied the evidence, claiming the DNA and CCTV were incorrect. No motive was established in court, and according to the BBC, he showed no emotion when the jury returned the guilty verdict. Meanwhile, Whyte’s mother and sister were in tears in court.
Outside the court, Whyte’s sister Alexandra, who is now raising her sister’s son, said, “Deng Chol Majek stalked, hunted and then preyed on our defenceless Rhiannon, before cornering her and unleashing a vicious attack – and for what purpose?
"She was at work, helping people as she always did, and he chose her for no purpose other than cold-blooded self-gratification,” she added. "He took so many opportunities from Rhiannon, she will never watch her son grow up, we will never watch her marry, build a family, buy her first house or learn to drive.”
The case has drawn attention as part of broader discussions about violence by migrants staying at asylum hotels in England. Despite her sister’s brutal death, Alexandra disputed claims linking the attack to immigration policy, saying, "Many have tried to imply this is about immigration, but these are the choices of one man, not an ethnic group.”
