Asylum seeker murder-accused denies lying about age

Rhiannon Whyte suffered 23 stab wounds as she was fatally injured at Bescot Stadium station, in Walsall

An asylum seeker accused of murdering a hotel worker has denied lying about his age.

Deng Chol Majek, who claims to be 19, said ID documents he had with him in Germany that suggested he was 27 were a result of errors in processing by Italian officials when he crossed from Libya.

The Sudanese national has denied murdering Rhiannon Whyte, 27, who died three days after being repeatedly stabbed with a screwdriver at Bescot Stadium railway station in Walsall in October 2024.

Mr Majek maintained that his real date of birth was 1 January 2006, not 1998, as on the German documents.

"When I got saved in the sea by the Italian authorities they were talking to me and I wasn't understanding, and they put this date of birth without asking me about my actual date of birth," he said.

"They didn't ask me for my date of birth, they just assumed it."

Mr Majek was cross-examined by the prosecution on Wednesday

During cross-examination at Wolverhampton Crown Court, Mr Majek also denied again being a man captured on CCTV wearing clothing described by the prosecution as "identical" to his at the time.

Michelle Heeley KC put it to the defendant that he had "tracked" Ms Whyte to the station shortly after her shift finished at 23:00 BST on 20 October 2024, stabbed her more than 20 times on a platform, and then visited a shop to buy beer.

Showing CCTV images from the Bescot Stadium station of a figure walking up a flight of stairs to a bridge over the railway line, prosecution barrister Ms Heeley said: "This is the figure that is about to murder Rhiannon Whyte walking up the stairs."

She described the clothing the man was seen wearing, including a black man bag and rings on his fingers.

She asked if Mr Majek had been concealing a screwdriver up his sleeve at that stage.

"That's not me," he said.

Mr Majek repeatedly denied that a man shown in CCTV footage was him

He also denied that Ms Whyte's blood had been found on his clothing, and said he was not the person who stabbed her.

'There is no DNA'

Ms Heeley asked the defendant to tell the jury why Ms Whyte's DNA had been found under his right fingernail.

"I never touched her, and there is no DNA," said Mr Majek.

"There is DNA because she tried to fight you off, didn't she?" Ms Heeley said.

"I don't accept what you're saying to me. I didn't fight her off and I didn't do anything," the Mr Majek responded.

When asked why he did not respond to police questioning, he said his solicitor had told him to stay silent.

He repeatedly denied being the person to attack Rhiannon Whyte that night.

Mr Majek said a person pictured buying beer from a shop in the evening was not him

The court was also shown footage of a man in a grey top dancing outside the hotel, which Mr Majek agreed was him.

"Your mood earlier in the evening had been very solemn," Ms Heeley said.

"Did you smile?"

"I don't understand what you are trying to say," he replied.

"Here you are happy and dancing aren't you?" Ms Heeley asked.

"We go outside every day and we dance, it's a normal thing," he said.

"Your mood had changed, you were in a better mood," Ms Heeley continued.

"Had what you'd done made you happy?"

"I didn't do anything," Mr Majek said.

The defence has formally closed its case.

The trial continues.

Additional reporting by PA Media