Delay in sentencing for murderer of asylum hotel worker

The court has delayed the sentencing of a man convicted of murdering a worker at an asylum hotel after authorities were unable to confirm his exact age. Deng Chol Majek was found guilty last month of fatally stabbing Rhiannon Skye Whyte 23 times at Bescot Railway Station in Walsall in October 2024.

During the trial, Majek, an asylum seeker from Sudan, claimed he was 19 years old, but prosecutors questioned this and suggested he may be older. The confirmed age will influence the length of his prison term.

At a hearing at Wolverhampton Crown Court, Justice Soole stated that there was insufficient time to issue a sentence before the end of the year. The new sentencing date is set for 30 January, postponed from the original 15 December date.

Majek had been staying at the Park Inn Hotel in Walsall, where Ms Whyte worked. He followed her to the nearby station and attacked her, later fleeing with her phone and discarding it in a river. Railway staff found Ms Whyte slumped on a platform shelter, and she passed away in hospital three days later.

Witnesses testified that Majek had previously watched Ms Whyte and other hotel staff in a disturbing manner. Despite CCTV footage and DNA evidence connecting him to the crime, Majek denied committing the murder.

Author: Noah Whitman