A teenager accused of murdering a hotel worker at a railway station has pleaded not guilty to the charge during a video-link appearance before a Crown Court judge.
Speaking through an Arabic interpreter, Deng Chol Majek, 18, said “not guilty, I didn’t kill her” when asked to enter his plea to a charge alleging he murdered Rhiannon Skye Whyte on October 20 this year.
Prosecutors allege Majek, understood to be an asylum seeker, used a screwdriver to kill the 27-year-old, who died in hospital three days after being injured at Bescot Stadium station in Walsall, West Midlands.
Majek, of Bescot Crescent in Walsall, appeared on Friday before the Recorder of Wolverhampton, Judge Michael Chambers KC, on a video-link from HMP Manchester, sitting behind a wooden desk and wearing a blue top.
The defendant, originally from South Sudan, denies being present at the scene, the court heard.
Members of Ms Whyte’s family watched the proceedings, which lasted for around 20 minutes, from the front row of the public gallery.
After entering a not guilty plea to the murder charge, Chol Majek was asked four times to use the phrase “not guilty” when entering his plea to an allegation of unlawfully possessing a screwdriver at the railway station on October 20.
Asked for his formal plea to the second charge, the defendant told the court clerk: “It wasn’t me”; “I didn’t do anything”; and: “I didn’t do that” before telling her: “I didn’t do it, I am not guilty.”
The most selfless person, you were brave, quirky, funny and always there for anyone who needed it. There is not enough paper in the world to even begin to write a tribute for you, but no one deserves it more.
Remanding Majek in custody until a pre-trial hearing on February 7 and a trial later in 2025, Judge Chambers told him: “Mr Majek, your case is being adjourned for trial. As currently listed that will be on March 17 at Coventry Crown Court.
“I am required to warn you that if you choose not to attend your trial you run the risk it will proceed in your absence.
“You will have the right to give evidence at your trial. In the meantime, you must remain in custody.”
The jury trial is expected to last for up to 10 days and will be presided over by a High Court judge.
In a statement issued through police shortly after her death, Ms Whyte’s family described her as “the most loved daughter, compassionate sister, loving auntie, gracious granddaughter, beautiful niece, wonderful cousin and devoted friend”.
Their statement added: “The most selfless person, you were brave, quirky, funny and always there for anyone who needed it. There is not enough paper in the world to even begin to write a tribute for you, but no one deserves it more.”
