An asylum seeker stabbed a hotel worker 23 times with a screwdriver and left her for dead, a court has heard.
Rhiannon Skye Whyte, 27, worked at the Park Inn hotel in Wolverhampton which was being used to house asylum seekers.
She was making her way home after her shift ended at 11pm last October 20 when she was stabbed at Bescot Stadium station.
She suffered a total of 23 stab wounds, mostly to her head.
Deng Chol Majek, who is from Sudan and claims to be 19, was seen dancing and laughing not long after the attack.
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He lived in the Park Inn hotel where Rhiannon worked.
He is on trial at Wolverhampton crown court accused of her murder.
Rhiannon was heard screaming twice during a phone call to a friend as she walked to the train station.
Shortly afterwards the defendant was reportedly seen on CCTV running away from the platform carrying a lit up object in his hand – thought to be Rhiannon’s mobile phone.
The friend phoned the police, who contacted the hotel which sent a member of staff to the station to check on Rhiannon.
She was found by a train guard on the platform minutes later, prosecutor Michelle Heeley KC told the court, and despite the guard and hotel staff member’s best efforts Rhiannon could not be saved. She died in hospital three days later.
Ms Heeley said: ‘He followed her down on to the train platform at the Bescot Stadium station and then he attacked her. Stabbing her over and over again with a screwdriver.
‘He left her bleeding to death and then casually went back to his hotel. We say you can be sure he is guilty of murder.’
Rhiannon had worked at the hotel for about three months before her death, helping to clean and serve food.
Ms Heeley told the court: ‘During the evening one of Rhiannon’s co-workers noticed this defendant. He seemed to be staring at Rhiannon and the women she was working with.
‘No one could recall any particular issue that would have caused him to act in that way. There had been an issue about some broken biscuits with some of the residents but nothing serious.
‘What is clear from the CCTV is that the defendant was hanging around the reception area, staring at Rhiannon throughout the evening. He changed into a distinctive jacket and sandals and then waited around the reception area where Rhiannon was.
‘CCTV tracks the defendant all the way. He followed her from the hotel and to the station.
‘He had been hanging around waiting for her to leave and waited until she was on her own before he followed her.
‘The defendant did not go straight back to the hotel, he went to a local shop and bought himself a drink first, arriving back in the hotel at 13 minutes past midnight.
‘In between the station and the hotel he had thrown Rhiannon’s phone into a river. Once at the hotel he was seen dancing and laughing, clearly excited about what he had done.’
Majek denies murder and possessing a screwdriver as an offensive weapon. The trial continues.
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