Chinese PhD student is found guilty of drugging and raping 10 women: Son of wealthy Communist Party member filmed the sex attacks on hidden spy cameras in his flat to keep as ‘souvenirs’
A Chinese PhD student described as ‘every woman’s nightmare’ has been found guilty of drugging and raping 10 victims.
Zhenhao Zou, the 28-year-old son of a wealthy Chinese Communist Party member, drugged and raped three women in London and seven in China between 2019 and 2023, while he was studying at University College London.
He was convicted of 11 counts of rape, three counts of voyeurism, 10 counts of possession of an extreme pornographic image, false imprisonment and three counts of possession of butanediol with intent to commit a sexual offence.
Zou was cleared of two counts of possession of an extreme pornographic image and one count of possession of MDMA to commit a sexual offence.
The jury failed to reach unanimous verdicts on four counts of possession of ketamine and Xanax with intent to commit a sexual offence.
Zou’s four-week trial, overseen by Judge Rosina Cottage KC, heard how ‘the persistent sexual predator’ lured young Chinese women back to his plush properties and stupefied them with a cocktail of drink and drugs before attacking them and filming it on hidden spy cameras.
The identity of many of the women in Zou’s footage is unknown, with police having so far identified just two of the 10 victims that were part of the trial.
In one harrowing video, which reduced jurors to tears, a semi-conscious unknown woman begged Zou to stop raping her, but the predator chillingly sneered: ‘Don’t push me, it’s pointless… the sound insulation here is very good’.
One of the two female victims identified by police told the trial how she went out drinking with Zou in Chinatown, central London, in September 2021 after a meal with friends.
She said her last memory was vomiting in the street and losing her bank cards before she woke up to find Zou raping her.
UCL student Zhenhao Zou, 28, drugged and raped three women in London and seven in China between 2019 and 2023
Zou was branded a ‘persistent sexual predator’ who lured young Chinese women back to his flat before drugging and raping them
On May 18, 2023, Zou raped the other woman identified by police after a drinking party at his flat in Elephant and Castle.
The ‘screaming and crying’ woman told the trial how she felt drunk and ‘out of control’ and had begged Zou’s female friend to help her get home.
But Zou persuaded his friend to leave, arguing he couldn’t let the drunken woman go home alone, so she would stay with him. He kept her at the flat and later raped her.
When police raided his flat at the Uncle building, in Elephant and Castle, southeast London, in January 2024, they seized pipettes, glass vials and bottles of Butanediol.
Prosecutors previously said Zou filmed nine of the alleged victims, footage of which was played in court.
Asked by Mr Cotter why that particular genre appealed to him, Zou said: ‘I like it because the girl appears to be still and quiet when they are having sex.’
Mr Cotter then asked Zou: ‘What about being asleep?’
The student replied: ‘Yes, that’s my favourite type. But I could not find that.’
Zou looks on impassively while being interviewed (left) before sipping from a cup of water (right)
He described himself as a 28-year-old PhD researcher who ‘works out often’ – a fact he was keen to flaunt with topless mirror selfies
Bodyworn camera footage shows police finding bags of Xanax at Zou’s apartment
Officers seized items including a ‘graduated dropper pipette’ and two brown bottles containing 500ml of clear liquid labelled ‘1,4 – Butanediol.’
The bedroom in Zou’s flat, where he chillingly boasted that ‘the sound insulation is very good’
The kitchen, which was littered with bottles of alcohol. He often offered alcoholic drinks to his victims
The flat’s bathroom. Zou posed as a smart and charming young man when in reality he was a persistent sexual predator
Ms Farrelly said: ‘The police reviewed over 700,000 artefacts which included 1,277 videos.
‘The police found absolutely no trace whatsoever of such an interest (in timestop pornography) when they went through that material.’
In his closing speech, Mr Cotter told jurors on Tuesday that Zou says he has insomnia and has ‘an interest in sleep sex’.
‘He thinks there may be a connection,’ Mr Cotter said.
Mr Cotter told jurors Zou is ‘a young man with money who can pay to exercise his fantasies’.
Earlier in the trial, jurors heard how the student kept a ‘lost property box’ full of women’s belongings.
One woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said she was raped by Zou on May 18, 2023.
Zou kept a ‘lost property box’ in his wardrobe full of women’s belongings
A hidden spy camera that the rapist used to record his crimes
Zou boasted of his sexual prowess and appeared on a dating show in China
Zou kept a large collection of condoms in a Louis Vuitton box
More boxes of condoms that were found inside a drawer at his flat
Ms Farrelly told jurors: ‘She says when she woke up the following morning she searched high and low for her underwear, and eventually he (Zou) found it in his wardrobe.
‘You now know, although the woman never did, that in fact he had a box in his wardrobe that was full of women’s belongings.
‘He calls it a lost property box, we say it is his trophy box.
‘Why is it that every single item belongs to a woman?’
