A doctoral student has been sentenced to 24 years in life imprisonment after being convicted of rape of 10 women in London and China.
Zhenhao Zou is a Chinese national who raped three women in London between September 2019 and May 2023, and there were seven more women in China. He kept a trophy woman’s property box and filmed nine rape cases as the victim lost consciousness.
Prosecutors said three of the 10 victims had been identified, but Metropolitan Police Detectives were worried that he could have targeted dozens of women. Since the trial, 24 potential victims have come forward.
“You seem to be a good person in the world – you are also a sexual predator,” Judge Rosina Cottage KC told Zou.
This article contains painful details
She added during the sentencing of the Crown Court in London: “You told the[victim]that resistance was futile.
“Sometimes, you’ll be begged to stop – you seek power over them – these women treat them boredly and use them as sex toys for your pleasure.”
Judge Chatch said the court watched the “extremely painful” rape video. “Some people watched and cried,” she said.
Zou, who lives in southeast London's elephant and castle, was also convicted of three counts of voyeurism and 10 charges of possessing extreme pornographic images, one of which was false imprisonment and three possession of controlled drugs with the intention of committing sexual offences.
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