Chinese language Ph.D. pupil sentenced to a minimum of 24 years in jail for raping a number of girls

LONDON — A British decide on Thursday sentenced a Chinese language Ph.D. pupil to a minimal of 24 years in jail for drugging and raping 10 girls in England and China.

Zhenhao Zou, 28, was convicted of the assaults, which happened from 2019 to 2023, throughout a four-week trial earlier this yr at Internal London Crown Court docket.

Choose Rosina Cottage on Thursday described Zou as a “very shiny younger man” who used a manipulative “charming masks” to cover that he’s a “sexual predator.”

Zou was learning for a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering at College Faculty London in 2023 when the primary lady got here ahead to allege that he had raped her. As a part of the investigation, police seized Zou’s telephone, on which they discovered movies of him raping unconscious girls. A search of his condo in south London turned up sedatives and recording gear.

The investigation into Zou’s crimes continues, and a minimum of 24 girls have come ahead with new allegations because of the publicity surrounding his trial, London’s Metropolitan Police Service stated. Taken collectively, the instances would make him one of many worst intercourse offenders in U.Ok. historical past.

Zou, who additionally used the identify Pakho on-line, befriended fellow college students of Chinese language heritage on relationship apps and WeChat, earlier than inviting them for drinks and drugging them at his residences in London or an unknown location in China.

Utilizing hidden or handheld cameras, Zou filmed 9 of the assaults as “souvenirs,” and he saved a “trophy field” of his victims’ belongings, in keeping with proof offered at trial.

Zou, who claimed the encounters have been consensual, was additionally convicted of three counts of voyeurism, 10 of possessing an excessive pornographic picture, one among false imprisonment and three of possessing a managed drug with intent to commit a sexual offense.

He was handed a life sentence and should serve a minimal of 24 years in jail.

Prosecutor Saira Pike praised the victims who got here ahead to report Zou’s “horrific crimes.”

“They’ve been extremely sturdy and courageous,” Pike stated. “There isn’t a doubt that their proof helped us to safe his conviction, and the life sentence handed to him right this moment.”