Chinese PhD student Zhenhao Zou has been found guilty at Inner London Crown Court of drugging and raping 10 women. (Image: PA Images/Elizabeth Cook)
A Chinese PhD student has been convicted of drugging and raping 10 women. Zhenhao Zou, 28, was found guilty of the attacks after a month-long trial at Inner London Crown Court.
He was convicted on Wednesday (March 5) of the harrowing attacks involving two women who have been identified and another eight who have yet to be traced. Zou filmed nine of the attacks as “souvenirs” and kept a trophy box of women’s belongings, jurors at his trial were told.
The mechanical engineering student was also convicted of three counts of voyeurism, 10 of possession of an extreme pornographic image, one of false imprisonment and three of possession of a controlled drug with intent to commit a sexual offence, namely butanediol.
He was cleared of two further counts of possession of an extreme pornographic image and one of possession of MDMA with intent to commit a sexual offence. Zou showed no visible reaction as the verdicts were read out in court.
Zou, who also went by the name Pakho online, befriended fellow Chinese students on WeChat and dating apps before inviting them for drinks and drugging them at his flats in London or at an unknown location in China.
The student first moved to Belfast in 2017 to study at Queen’s University before heading to London in 2019 to do a master’s degree and then a PhD at UCL.
Prosecutors said Zou appeared to be “a smart and charming young man”, but he was in fact “a persistent sexual predator, a voyeur and a rapist”.
Jurors had to watch footage of nine of the rapes during the trial, appearing visibly upset and being given regular breaks as the disturbing material was shown.
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