Chinese PhD Student Jailed For Life For Drugging and Raping 10 Women

Zhenhao Zou

Source: Africa Publicity

A Chinese PhD student whom a judge described as a “very bright young man”, has been sentenced to life in prison with a minimum term of 24 years for drugging and raping 10 women in London and China.

Zhenhao Zou drugged and raped three women in London and seven other women in his native China.

The drugging and rape incidents took place between September 2019 and May 2023, according to prosecutors.

Prosecutors said three of the 10 rape and drug victims have been identified.

Police detectives in London however fear Zou could have targeted several other women. They have therefore appealed for potential victims to contact them.

Since the beginning of Zou’s trial, 24 women have come forward to complain.

Judge Rosina Cottage KC in remarks during the sentencing, says Zou was a “very bright young man” who used a manipulative “charming mask” to hide that he was a “sexual predator”.

At the sentencing hearing at Inner London Crown Court, Judge Cottage told Zou: “You appear to the world to be a very well-to-do man. You are also a sexual predator.”

According to her, Zou had “planned and executed a campaign of rape”, treating the women “callously” and as “sex toys” for his own pleasure, which had had “devastating and long-term effects”.

She says Zou had a “sexual interest” in “asserting power and control over women”, and that the victims had been “pieces in an elaborate game” for the defendant, who had “no understanding of the meaning of consent”.

Judge Cottage added: “You told (the victims) that resistance was futile.

She says “Sometimes you would be begged to stop. You sought power over them – these women you treated callously – and used them as sex toys for your pleasure.”