London university PhD student accused of raping 10 women and keeping ‘souvenirs’

A PhD student at a London university is facing charges of raping 10 unconscious and semi-conscious women.

Zhenhao Zou is accused of raping the women between September 2019 and May 2023, during which time he studied a Master’s and a PhD in engineering at University College London (UCL). He denies all the charges.

The prosecutor Catherine Farrelly said at the Inner London Crown Court: “To the outside world, he undoubtedly presents as a smart and charming young man. However, as you know from the indictment in this case which contains 35 allegations against him, the prosecution says that he is also a persistent sexual predator, a voyeur and a rapist.

“The prosecution case at this trial is that he would meet women, he would stupefy them either with drink or drugs, and once they were significantly under the influence of drink or drugs, he would then rape them.”

When the police arrested Zou, they found a stash of ketamine, MDMA, xanax and GHB in his home. Police also discovered several videos, which the prosecution say show him raping women.

Farrelly said: “Often, he would record himself doing so and during this trial you will be shown several recordings which the prosecution say are the defendant’s souvenirs of the many rapes that he had committed – items that he kept for his own private sexual gratification, so that he could watch, at his leisure, his rapes of these women, who he had rendered often unconscious and totally vulnerable to his will.”

The trial is happening at the Inner London Crown Court
(Image by Stephen Richards via Creative Commons)

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Two women have spoken out and accused Zou of raping them in London. One woman said she used to study maths with Zou. She encountered him again at a friend’s party, then went back to his flat in the Elephant and Castle area of London.  She claimed he pressured her to drink lots of wine and vodka until she felt “out of control”. She told the court she tried to leave the apartment, but Zou “dragged her back by her clothes into his bedroom”. She says she woke up at about 6am in his bed, naked, feeling “dizzy and drowsy”.

She found the second woman on social media. They realised they’d had experiences with the same man.

The second woman went on a date with Zou in Chinatown. She drank a lot of whisky, and vomited in the street. She remembers Zou taking her back to his flat. She claims she didn’t consent to having sex with Zou, then he raped her once she’d lost consciousness.

Eight more women are in the videos taken from Zou. They haven’t been identified.

Zou has also been charged with the illegal possession of two other videos which appear to show women being raped. He has not been accused of raping these women.

He claims all the women in the videos consented, and they were “role-playing”. He denies 11 charges of rape, 12 charges of possessing extreme pornography, eight counts of possessing a controlled drug with intent to supply it, three counts of voyeurism, and one count of false imprisonment.

Zhenhao Zou is 27 years old. He used to go to Queen’s University Belfast, then started studying at UCL in 2017.

Featured image of University College London (UCL) by C Ford via Creative Commons.