The murder trial of an asylum seeker believed to have arrived in the U.K. on a small boat could take twice as long because he does not speak English, a court heard. The Telegraph has the story.
Deng Chol Majek, 18, was accused of fatally stabbing Rhiannon Skye Whyte in the neck at Bescot Stadium railway station in Walsall in October.
Mr. Majek, who is believed to be from South Sudan, appeared at Wolverhampton Crown Court on Friday via video link from HMP Manchester.
Whyte’s mother and sister watched from the front row of the public gallery as he denied murdering the 27-year-old.
Mr. Majek claims to be 18 but has no documentation and refused to appear in front of a screen for the plea hearing before Judge Michael Chambers KC last month.
He appeared at Friday’s rescheduled hearing behind a desk wearing a grey sweatshirt top and was charged with two counts – allegedly murdering Whyte on October 20th and possessing an offensive weapon in a public place – on the same day.
Speaking through a Sudanese/Arabic interpreter, he was asked how he pleaded to the possession of an offensive weapon charge, to which he replied: “It wasn’t me.”
Asked again to enter the standard response of “not guilty”, he said: “I did not do anything. I did not do that.”
Pressed for a third time to enter the correct response, he said: “I did not do it, I am not guilty.” The court then accepted the plea.
However, he responded “not guilty” when the murder charge was put to him for the first time.
Amjad Malik, Mr. Majek’s barrister, suggested the trial could last double the prosecution’s estimate of five days. “Given the language requirements and his general demeanour, it may take longer,” he said.
Judge Chambers listed the trial for March 17th in Coventry.
Whyte was attacked after walking on to the platform of Walsall’s Bescot Stadium train station to catch the last service home on a Sunday night.
She had left work moments earlier at the Park Inn by Radisson hotel nearby, which was repurposed as a residence for asylum seekers.
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