Asylum seeker 'intimidated women before killing'

An asylum seeker from Sudan accused of killing a hotel worker was staring at her and other staff like he "couldn't take his eyes off any of us," a woman has told his trial.

Hotel chef Louise Brittle said it seemed as though Deng Majek, who had been in the Park Inn hotel in Walsall for three months, "was planning something". She described it as "really scary".

Duty manager Claire Taylor-Bevans said staff "all felt intimated" and asked the security team at the site to "keep an eye" on him on 20 October 2024.

Mr Majek, who claims to be 19, denies murdering Rhiannon Whyte, 27, by stabbing her more than 20 times with a screwdriver on Bescot Stadium railway station that night.

It is claimed that Mr Majek, who also denies possessing an offensive weapon, killed her after "tracking" her from the hotel to the nearby station when her shift finished at 23:00 BST.

Both women gave evidence at Wolverhampton Crown Court from behind a curtain.

Mr Majek was "just fixated at the bar area" where Ms Whyte was handing out snacks, jurors heard.

Mrs Brittle said she saw a tall, dark-skinned man sitting at a high table, wearing a silver top with the hood up.

She described him as "sitting relaxed in a high chair with one arm on the table and his foot on a bench... just staring".

She told prosecution KC Michelle Heeley: "He was staring towards the bar area. I came out of the kitchen and I noticed him straight away.

"He was just staring through us… like eyes wide open and he just couldn't take his eyes off any of us."

She said she turned a chair so her back was towards him and described how the man didn't interact with many people, adding: "He was like a loner."

The next day, after she heard Ms Whyte had been killed, Mrs Brittle said she asked to see a picture of the man who had been arrested.

She said: "I was shown the exact image that I still have in my mind. It was of the person sitting opposite the bar area that night, staring at us all."

Under cross-examination from defence barrister Gurdeep Garcha KC, Mrs Brittle said: "It was like he was planning something, that's the only way I can describe it. It was really scary, it was like he was going to do something that night. That's how scared I felt."

Mrs Taylor-Bevans, another staff member giving evidence on Wednesday, had started working at the hotel about two weeks earlier.

She said Mr Majek had been staring at her, Ms Whyte and another worker, Jamie Leigh Bannister.

"He was staring at all three of us behind the bar, spookily," she said, "like through us – as though we weren't there."

She said after they finished serving crisps and biscuits, she went to reception and told security "we all felt intimidated".

She said all three went outside to vape when he "brushed past my arm and knocked Rhiannon's arm" as they returned to the hotel.

Mrs Taylor-Bevans said she looked at Ms Whyte, asking what had happened, and she replied: "He's just knocked me."

Defending, Mr Garcha asked if it could have been accidental.

Mrs Taylor-Bevans said: "He didn't have to go that close to us...he had loads of space, he was too close to us.

"He was walking closer than he needed to be."

Ms Bannister, who had worked at the hotel for about two years, since before it became an asylum hotel, was on late shift with Ms Whyte.

She said: "We realised all night he was staring directly at all three of us."

The court heard her brother picked her up outside and she went straight home after their shift finished at 23:00 BST.

She said Ms Whyte was still in the hotel at that point and seemed "jolly as always". She later found out on Facebook her colleague had been attacked.

Mr Garcha said Ms Whyte never asked for a lift, adding that none of them were so upset they thought they would need to change plans about getting home.

The trial continues.