A Chinese PhD student accused of drugging and raping ten women told one victim who was begging him to stop that ‘the sound insulation here is very good’, a court has heard.
Zhenhao Zou, 27, was studying at University College London when he was accused of carrying out 11 rapes on unconscious women stupefied with a cocktail of drugs including MDMA, GHB, ketamine and xanax.
He is accused of filming himself attacking nine of his ten victims with it claimed he kept them as ‘souvenirs’.
Zou is accused of carrying out the rapes between September 2019 and May 2023, while he was studying in London.
In the one of clips, the court was told Zou can be heard telling one victim ‘don’t push me it’s pointless’ as she begs him to stop.
‘The more you push me I really can’t consider how you feel,’ he said.
‘It’s not the first time we have done it, this is the second time. The sound insulation here is very good.’
Inner London Crown Court heard today that while the engineering student presented as a ‘smart and charming person’ to the outside world, in reality he was ‘a persistent sexual predator; a voyeur and a rapist’.
The majority of his victims have never been identified after police brought many of the rape charges based on the defendant’s own recordings of the attacks captured on his mobile phone and a series of secret cameras, it was said.
Zou is charged with 11 rapes of 10 women, three counts of voyeurism, 12 counts of possession of an extreme pornographic image, one of false imprisonment and eight of possession of a controlled drug with intent to supply.
Phd student Zhenhao Zou, 27, was studying for a master’s degree at University College London when he is accused of carrying out 11 rapes on unconscious woman
Court artist drawing by Elizabeth Cook of Zou appearing at Inner London Crown Court
In a second video featuring the same woman, Zou told her: ‘Don’t push okay? Why is making love so hard.’
He told her: ‘I really hope the two of us can work in a relaxed manner. If you push me, I really, I won’t consider what you think.’
In December 2023 Zou visited a page on eBay selling hidden cameras, the court heard.
A PDF document was found on his laptop in Mandarin, the title of which translated to ‘Club Drugs and Their Acute Toxic Effects’, the court heard.
When interviewed by police in January 2024 Zou gave a prepared statement saying he was ‘in the habit’ of taking images of his sexual activity but only ever did so with the consent of his partners.
He denied that he had ever had sex with anyone without their consent.
Zou said that the bottles of GBL found in the flat, which metabolises in the body as GHB, were for moisturising his face and body but he hadn’t yet used them.
But Catherine Farrelly KC, prosecuting, told the jury they would hear from an expert who would say that GBL would have the opposite effect of a moisturiser and irritate the skin.
The defendant first came to the UK in September 2017 to study at Queen’s University in Belfast before going on to do a master’s degree at University College London from 2019 to 2021, followed by a PhD at the same university from 2021.
‘To the outside world, he undoubtedly presents as a smart and charming young man,’ prosecutor Catherine Farrelly, KC, said.
‘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 those drink or drugs, he would rape them.
‘Often, he would record himself doing so and you will be shown several recordings during this trial which the prosecution say are the defendant’s souvenirs of 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 unconscious and totally vulnerable to his will.’
The defendant, wearing gold rim spectacles and a blue suit, showed no reaction as the case was opened yesterday.
Police launched an investigation when a Chinese woman claimed that she had been raped after being plied with vodka and wine at a friend’s party in May 2023.
The victim recalled screaming and crying as she attempted to flee but Zou dragged her back by her clothes into his bedroom, it was said.
Inner London Crown Court (pictured), located near Elephant and Castle in south London
She told police that she ‘felt hopeless’ after being imprisoned as she started to lose consciousness.
‘I was really tired, I can’t fight back, I have no strength’, she told police.
Zou ‘raped me when I was unconscious’, she added.
Police later recovered a video of the attack in which the victim can be heard pleading with Zou, saying she felt unwell and wanted to go home, but he urged her to finish a large glass of vodka he had given her, the court heard.
When she begged for him to let her go, Zou allegedly responded ‘Calm down, don’t move. Lie down.’
In one clip, an unconscious woman appears to wake up and tries to stop the attack crying: ‘I don’t want, I beg you…I hate you. I will never have anything to do with you again.’
Zou allegedly responded: ‘Really don’t push me, it’s pointless.
‘It’s not the first time we have done it. This is the second time. The sound insulation here is very good.’
The prosecutor said: ‘She tells the defendant to let go of her. She asks the defendant not to restrain her and tells him that he is controlling her.
‘At one point in the recording, she can be heard screaming repeatedly and she appears to try and get up from the bed on several occasions and the defendant pushes her back down each time.’
The victim later posted on social media about the attack which led to another victim coming forward, the jury heard.
When he was arrested police found videos relating to nine of the victims as well as a series of intimate photographs taken while the women were unconscious, the court heard.
Zou was arrested again later in January 2024 when more videos were found.
He was arrested again in March 2024 after the allegations made by the first woman to go to the police.
He told police all sexual contact between them had been consensual.
Ms Farrelly said: ‘He said that immediately afterwards, she had asked him for money and was angry when he didn’t pay her.
‘He said she had mentioned that before sex, but he had hoped that she would change her mind.
‘He said that she had sent him a photograph of a luxury handbag that she wanted him to buy her.
‘He denied that he had kept her at his flat against her will.’
He was arrested again later in March due to the allegation of the woman he allegedly raped after a meal in Chinatown.
He again said all sex had been consensual.
Zou, who was living in Elephant and Castle in south-east London, denies all 35 charges against him.
The case continues.
