Chinese student found guilty in British court of drugging and raping 10 women

LONDON — A Chinese doctoral student was found guilty Wednesday by a court in London of drugging and raping 10 women in England and China.

Zhenhao Zou, 28, was convicted of the attacks between 2019 and 2023 following a monthlong trial at the Inner London Crown Court. He was convicted of 11 counts of rape, with two of the offenses relating to one victim.

After more than 19 hours of deliberations, jurors concluded Zou raped three of the women in London, and seven in China.

Police have only been able to identify two of the victims.

Zou, a mechanical engineering student who was working toward a doctorate at University College London, filmed nine of the attacks as “souvenirs” and kept a trophy box of women’s belongings.

Zou claimed that the sexual interactions were consensual. He will be sentenced on June 19.

Jurors had to watch the attacks during the trial and were given regular breaks as the troubling footage was shown to them. Judge Rosina Cottage thanked the jury for their work.

After the verdicts, Cottage described the defendant as a “dangerous and predatory sexual offender” and that his sentence will be “very long.”

Zou, who showed no emotion as the verdicts were read out in court, was also convicted of three counts of voyeurism, 10 counts of possession of an extreme pornographic image, one count of false imprisonment and three counts of possession of a controlled drug, namely butanediol, with intent to commit a sexual offense.

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 offense.

Zou, who also used the name Pakho online, befriended fellow Chinese students on WeChat and dating apps, before inviting them for drinks and drugging them at his apartments in London or an unknown location in China.

Metropolitan Police Cmdr. Kevin Southworth thanked the two women who gave evidence against Zou in court.

Zou first moved to Belfast, Northern Ireland, in 2017 to study mechanical engineering at Queen’s University before heading to University College London in 2019 for a master’s degree and then a PhD.

“Our thoughts are with the survivors and we wish to pay tribute to the bravery of the women who reported these crimes and gave evidence at the trial,” said UCL’s president, Michael Spence.