Zhenhao Zou found guilty of multiple rapes and voyeurism after luring victims through social media.
A Chinese PhD student studying at University College London (UCL) has been convicted of raping ten women over a span of four years, from 2019 to 2023. Zhenhao Zou, 27, filmed his attacks on unconscious or drugged victims and kept the videos as disturbing ‘souvenirs’ of the crimes.
Zou targeted women through dating apps and social media platforms, enticing them to his home under the pretext of offering extra study sessions. Once there, he raped them while they were unconscious or semi-conscious. The victims were often unaware of the attacks until they were shown disturbing footage or came forward themselves.
Two victims, who had been assaulted in London, reported the attacks to the police, leading to Zou’s arrest. Police later discovered a harrowing collection of videos showing Zou sexually assaulting women, some of whom had begged him to stop. Zou was found guilty of 11 counts of rape, three counts of voyeurism, and ten counts of possessing extreme pornographic material related to the attacks.
The court heard that Zou had also been involved in trafficking illegal drugs such as MDMA and Ketamine, which he used to facilitate the attacks. He had set up spy cameras in his apartment, further violating his victims’ privacy. Zou’s offences extended beyond London, with eight women attacked during his visits to China. Many of the victims remain unidentified.
During the trial, disturbing video footage of the assaults was shown to the jury, with some jurors visibly distressed by the content. Zou claimed in his defence that the women had consented to the acts and argued that he was introduced to drugs in London’s nightclub scene. However, his disturbing fetish for ‘time-stop’ pornography, in which women appear frozen during sex, was highlighted as a key factor in his behaviour.
Zou’s sentencing follows a trial that has exposed the scale of his crimes, and his conviction serves as a grim reminder of the dangers posed by individuals abusing their power and position.
