Latest news with #ZouZhenhao
RTHK
12 hours ago
- RTHK
Chinese post-grad student gets life for rape spree
Chinese post-grad student gets life for rape spree Zou Zhenhao is suspected to have targeted 50 more women on top of the 10 he had raped in the UK and China. File photo: Reuters A Chinese post-graduate student convicted of drugging and raping 10 women in the UK and China and suspected of having attacked more has been jailed for life by a London court. Police in London say they have evidence to suggest Zou Zhenhao might have targeted more than 50 other women. Described in court as "calculated and predatory", Zou, 28, targeted young Chinese women whom he invited to his London flat for drinks or to study before drugging and attacking them. He filmed nine of the rapes with hidden or handheld cameras, but only three of the 10 victims have ever been identified. Sentencing him at Inner London Crown Court, Judge Rosina Cottage said there was "no doubt that you planned and executed a campaign of rape" that had caused "devastating and long term effects". To the world he appeared "well to do, ambitious and charming" but this was a mask hiding a "sexual predator", she said. He treated his victims "callously" as "sex toys" for his own gratification, and his desire to assert "power and control over women" meant that he would be a "risk for an indefinite period", she added. Zou, wearing a dark suit and glasses, listened impassively in the dock to the sentence via a translator. He will serve a minimum of 22 years in jail, after accounting for time already spent in custody. The former engineering student at University College London was found guilty by a jury in March of 28 offences including 11 counts of rape – with two of the counts relating to one woman – three counts of voyeurism and one of false imprisonment. He was found guilty of raping three women in London and seven in China between 2019 and 2023. He was also convicted of three counts of possessing butanediol – an industrial solvent – with intent to commit a sexual offence and 10 counts of possession of an extreme pornographic image. Victims told the sentencing hearing in impact statements of the psychological damage they suffered including nightmares, self harm and a sense of despair and isolation. One recalled "wandering like a trapped animal trying to find an exit" after she was attacked. "What happened that night is etched into my soul forever," she said. (AFP)
CNA
16 hours ago
- CNA
Serial rapist Zou Zhenhao jailed for life in UK
Scroll up for the next video X Serial rapist Zou Zhenhao jailed for life in UK
CNA
16 hours ago
- CNA
Serial rapist Zou Zhenhao sentenced to life imprisonment in UK
Serial rapist Zou Zhenhao was jailed for life in the UK on Thursday (Jun 19), with a minimum term of 24 years. The 28-year-old Chinese student, who lived in south London, was convicted of drugging and raping 10 women in the UK and China, though British police have identified at least 50 others from video footage he took during those assaults. Three of Zou's victims read testimonies in court ahead of his sentencing, describing their enduring trauma, feelings of powerlessness and mental health struggles.
CNA
18 hours ago
- CNA
'I will never forgive him': Victims recall trauma as serial rapist Zou Zhenhao jailed in UK
LONDON: Three women who were drugged and raped by serial offender Zou Zhenhao described enduring trauma, feelings of powerlessness and mental health struggles in testimonies read out in court, where Zou was sentenced to life with a minimum of 24 years in prison. Their victim impact statements were included as part of proceedings at the Inner London Crown Court on Thursday (Jun 19), ahead of Zou's sentencing. Zuo, 28, who remained stone-faced throughout the hearing, was convicted of drugging and raping 10 women in the UK and China, though British police have identified at least 50 others from video footage he took during those assaults. Twenty-four more women have now made themselves known to London's Metropolitan Police Service, and further charges could follow. Zou, who is from the Chinese city of Dongguan, had been studying for a PhD at University College London since 2019 before his arrest in London last year. A jury on Thursday heard how he met women using online platforms and dating apps over a period of years, inviting them to his home under the guise of studying or to have drinks. Zuo, who preyed on fellow university students and other women, would offer them alcohol laced with incapacitating drugs that rendered his victims unconscious and confused. Three of his victims volunteered to write assessments of the impact those rapes had on them. "COMPLETELY POWERLESS" The first woman recounted her experience of him raping her, saying she managed to 'open her eyes for a few seconds during the sexual assault' and felt him thrusting against her. She recalled being 'completely powerless, and could only use all her strength to demand he stop, which he did not'. 'His face in that moment will clearly stay in my mind forever. Even as I type these words, waves of nausea and disgust keep overwhelming me,' she said. She noted how the incident had affected her to this day, saying 'the memories trigger migraines and an overwhelming urge to scrub myself clean'. 'Words cannot fully capture the emotions I felt then or the pain I carry now. Whatever happened that night is etched into my soul forever. I will never forgive him,' she added. A second woman wrote how she could not sleep in the days after the incident, 'no matter what she did', as the events of what happened replayed in her mind. She found that her anxiety became overwhelming and she was unable to make any decisions. She described how for 'a long time' she 'could not socialise with others normally' and that before the attack, she 'was not aware a human could do such cruel things'. A third woman who reached out to police said she had deliberately tried to forget the attack, but when she saw the police reports after he was arrested, 'her body responded faster than her conscious mind'. She wrote of having to spend 3,000 yuan (US$417) on sexually transmitted disease (STD), human papillomavirus (HPV), and HIV testing, and she had worried for three 'agonising' months over contracting a disease from Zou after he raped her. She also described how 'for years, nightmares haunted' her. She was 'unable to be alone after dark' and 'developed insomnia and bipolar disorder,' turning to 'frenzied self-harm during breakdowns'. This, she explained, had produced 'endless self-loathing', and that 'to this day' she 'feels gagged by shame'. 'HIGHLY MANIPULATIVE' Zou was found guilty of 28 offences in total, including multiple counts of voyeurism, possession of extreme pornographic images and possession of a drug to commit a sexual offence. A spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police said detectives downloaded over 1,600 hours of footage from Zou's phones and laptops, as well as around nine million messages, representing 'one of the biggest cases' its digital forensics lab had dealt with. Investigators reportedly spent months trawling through those messages, having translated them from Chinese into English, in order to understand Zou's pattern of offending. The prosecution said that Zou was calculated and predatory in nature, undertook a high degree of premeditated planning, and blamed his victims. In sentencing remarks, Judge Rosina Cottage called him a highly manipulative man who 'told (women) they would have no choice but to comply, even when they begged him to stop'. She recalled how during one video taken by Zou, which was shown to the jury, one of his victims could be heard 'crying out for her mother again and again' as he repeatedly penetrated her. In justifying her sentence of at least 24 years' jail, the judge said she believed Zou posed a 'significant risk of further offences … long into the future'. That sentence is the minimum term Zou must serve in custody, but he could spend the rest of his life in prison if a parole board finds he is unfit for release after serving 24 years.
CNA
a day ago
- CNA
Chinese PhD student who drugged and raped 10 women given life sentence in the UK
LONDON: A Chinese PhD student who drugged and raped 10 women in the UK and China was on Thursday (Jun 19) jailed for life with a minimum term of 24 years. Passing sentence, UK judge Rosina Cottage said that to the world, Zou Zhenhao, 28, appeared "well to do, ambitious and charming" but this was in fact a mask hiding a "sexual predator". Zou was found guilty of 28 offences – 11 counts of rape, three counts of voyeurism, 10 counts of possession of extreme pornographic images, one of false imprisonment and three of possession of drugs with intent to commit a sexual offence. Over the course of the four-week trial, prosecutors presented evidence proving Zou was a serial rapist who used social media platforms and dating websites to target his victims. After inviting them to his apartment, he used drugs to incapacitate them before carrying out his attacks. Zou would secretly film these rapes using a mobile device and hidden cameras. Police officers found hundreds of videos of the attacks in London and China. "Zou is a serial rapist and a danger to women. His life sentence reflects the heinous acts and harm he caused to women and the danger he posed to society," said prosecutor Saira Pike.
