A PhD student accused of being a “persistent sexual predator” allegedly filmed himself raping multiple women while they were unconscious, a court has heard.
Zhenhao Zou, 27, allegedly drugged or pressured 10 different women to drink large quantities of alcohol, before sexually assaulting them and taking intimate pornographic images.
At the time, he had been studying an engineering course at University College London, having studied in the UK for the last seven years after moving from China.
He was arrested after one of the women reported him to the police, which led to them seizing his camera and mobile phone. As a result, multiple videos were uncovered which depicted several women appearing unconscious.
Mr Zhenhao, of Southwark, has denied 35 offences which include 11 rapes on 10 women, 12 charges of possession of extreme pornographic images, three counts of voyeurism, one of false imprisonment and eight counts of possession of a controlled drug with intent to supply.
Jurors at Inner London Crown Court heard only two of the women had been identified, but not the remaining eight.
The student, who moved to Belfast in 2017 to study at Queen’s University before coming to London in 2019 to do a master’s degree and then a PhD at UCL, had initially appeared as “a smart and charming young man”.
“The prosecution says that he is a persistent sexual predator; a voyeur and a rapist,” prosecutor Catherine Farrelly KC said.
“The prosecution case at this trial is that he would meet women, he would stupefy them, either with drugs or with alcohol, and, once they were significantly under the influence of drink or drugs, he would then rape them.
“Often, he would record himself doing so, 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.”
Police first became aware of the case in May 2023, when one of the women reported an allegation of rape. She explained Mr Zhenhao had “forced her to drink a lot” after she had attended a friend’s party in the same apartment block in Elephant and Castle where the defendant resided.
She later decided against pursuing an allegation due to her mental health.
Upon speaking to officers on the second occasion in February 2024, the woman provided police with an account of her experience and confirmed she had been approached by a second alleged victim who claimed she had also been raped by Mr Zhenhao.
The court heard that in relation to the first woman, she had been invited back to Mr Zhenhao’s flat in Elephant and Castle after attending the party on 18 May 2023 and that he had given her wine.
“After a while, she began to find the defendant odd and boring and he was trying to get close to her, which she didn’t like, so she indicated that she wanted to leave but the defendant persuaded her not to,” Ms Farrelly said.
She claimed when she tried to run to the door to leave, Mr Zhenhao “dragged her back by her clothes into his bedroom”, and kept her there against her will. He continued to ply her with alcohol and agreed to transfer her 100,000 in Chinese currency, the equivalent of £11,000, for her to stay with him.
After she became semi-unconscious, the defendant proceeded to rape her, with the woman telling police she was “drunk, I was really tired, I can’t fight back, I have no strength”.
In the morning, she woke up at 6am without any clothing and feeling “dizzy and drowsy”, with her underwear found in the defendant’s wardrobe.
Police later discovered recordings on Mr Zhenhao’s camera of the woman, where she can be heard asking to go home, stating she is feeling unwell and screaming repeatedly before the defendant pushes her down to the bed.
Graphic images were also found on his mobile phone, which were said to have been taken without her consent and for his own sexual gratification.
The second alleged victim told police that she had met Mr Zhenhao in September 2021 and had stayed at his address and engaged in consensual sex.
A month later, she had invited him to her birthday with friends, where they had drunk alcohol in the backroom of a venue after visiting a restaurant. Her recollection became “unclear” and she remembered vomiting in the street with the defendant, before being back at his address with him on top of her.
She claimed that he was having sex with her in a “fast and forceful way”, and that she had asked him to stop before falling unconscious.
“The prosecution says that it is clear that the defendant had sex with her when she was in no position to consent, she had passed out through drink, and he had sex with her anyway,” Ms Farrelly said.
Mr Zhenhao sat in the dock wearing a navy blue suit, white shirt, and navy blue tie as the prosecution case opened.
Earlier, Judge Rosina Cottage KC told jurors that while “it is easy to feel indignant; or shock, embarrassment and even disgust” at the material they will be shown, they must put aside their feelings and consider the evidence clinically.
The trial is set to last for four weeks.
Rape Crisis offers support for those affected by rape and sexual abuse. You can call them on 0808 802 9999 in England and Wales, 0808 801 0302 in Scotland, and 0800 0246 991 in Northern Ireland, or visit their website at www.rapecrisis.org.uk. If you are in the US, you can call Rainn on 800-656-HOPE (4673).
