An asylum seeker has been sentenced to a minimum of 29 years for stabbing a hotel worker to death at a train station in the West Midlands.
Deng Chol Majek stabbed Rhiannon Skye Whyte in the head 19 times with a screwdriver, and 23 times in total, in October 2024.
He was caught on CCTV following her from the Park Inn hotel, in Walsall – where he lived and she worked – to Bescot Stadium station.
Majek was handed a life sentence on Friday at Coventry Crown Court.
Ms Whyte’s family described Majek as “demonic and inhuman” in a statement to the court.
“The pain and suffering we have experienced since the horrific attack is something we still have to address every day, and I cannot see a time when this will not be the case,” her family said.
“To add insult to injury, due to the cowardice of her attacker and his failure to face up to what he has done, we have had to sit and endure reliving Rhiannon’s last moments over and again in a very public setting.”
A court heard Majek, who is from Sudan and claimed to be 19 years old, had previously been reported to hotel security after “spookily” staring at three female staff for prolonged periods.
Ms Whyte, 27, died three days after the attack, having been found injured by the driver and guard of a train which pulled in about five minutes later.
Rhiannon Skye Whyte died after being stabbed on a platform at a train station in Walsall. Pic: Family handout/PA
High Court judge Michael Soole said: “You have provided the court with no explanation for your conduct, nor any reliable basis to consider any suggested mitigating factors”.
“I see no basis for this statutory mitigating factor which arises where the intent was to cause serious bodily harm rather than to kill.
“Having regard to every aspect of your conduct, before, during and after the assault on Rhiannon, I am sure that your intent was to kill.”
Justice Soole concluded Majek was actually aged between 25 and 28, despite his claims to have been 18 at the time of the murder.
“I consider that the greatest likelihood is that you were born in 1998 as the German documents attest,” Justice Soole said.
“I therefore sentence you on the basis that you were aged 26 at the date of Rhiannon’s murder.
“For the offence of murder, the law imposes a sentence of imprisonment for life.”
CCTV alleged to show Majek staring at Rhiannon Whyte and a colleague. Pic: PA
Majek, who is about 10 inches taller than Ms Whyte, walked to the Caldmore Green area of Walsall after the attack to buy beer and was recorded apparently wiping blood from his trousers.
He returned to the hotel at 12.13am, changed his bloodstained flip-flops for trainers, and was seen dancing with other residents in the car park, within sight of emergency vehicles called to the station.
Carla Harris, from the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “Rhiannon Whyte should have been able to go to work and come home safely – but Deng Chol Majek robbed her of her life and future.
“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.
“Although the stabbing itself was not captured on CCTV, the prosecution case against Chol Majek included DNA evidence, witness testimony and CCTV showing him stalking Rhiannon to the station and returning to the hotel in his distinctive bloodied clothing.”
Majek was originally found guilty in October, and police at the time said he had shown no remorse.
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