Jurors shown videos of student allegedly raping nine women in China and London

Jurors have been shown multiple videos of a Chinese PhD student allegedly raping nine women in London and China.

Zhenhao Zou, 27, allegedly filmed himself raping the women in different locations on dates between September 14 2019 and May 2023.

Members of the jury were visibly upset and one was in tears as the clips were played at Inner London Crown Court on Thursday.

Zou appeared emotionless in the dock throughout the day.

In camera footage from May 2023, shot from a bedside table at his flat in Elephant and Castle, south-east London, Zou could be heard encouraging a woman to finish her drink while she asks to leave, jurors were told.

The woman can be heard urging the defendant not to restrain or control her, it is alleged.

She is one of two of Zou’s 10 alleged victims who have been identified by police.

In two more clips from a different camera, which jurors heard were filmed at student accommodation at Woburn Place near Russell Square in London, another woman identified only as Female A can be heard in the clips allegedly telling Zou to “stop” while struggling to stay awake.

The defendant is seen with what appears to be scratches on his back, the court heard.

Zou can be seen positioning the camera to point at a naked woman who is lying motionless on a bed in a room where the blind is drawn before he has sex with her, jurors were told.

Female A tells him to stop and that it hurts, and at one point Zou can be heard saying “the sound insulation here is very good”, jurors were told.

In the second clip, in what prosecutors say is the same room, the defendant can again be seen having sex with Female A while she tells him to stop, the court heard.

Detective constable Jack Woods, giving evidence, told jurors that there were multiple scratches on Zou’s back.

Zou was living at the location from September 2019 to September 2020, but it is not known when the footage was filmed.

Clips involving another seven women were taken in unknown locations in China, jurors heard.

Dc Woods said police know they were filmed in China because officers matched the date of the videos with records of when Zou had travelled to the country.

In one, filmed by a camera, Zou is seen allegedly raping a woman known only as Female D on October 24 2022, jurors were told.

She can be heard telling the defendant to stop, the court heard.

More short clips showed the two separate rapes of two unconscious women who were lying on a bed while being filmed by a mobile phone from above, prosecutor Catherine Farrelly KC said.

Four other women were seen in videos filmed on a mobile phone in China, the court heard.

Police do not know the identities of Female A or the seven women allegedly raped in China, the court was told.

Two further videos showing two other women, known as Female I and Female J, were found in the defendant’s possession, but he is not identified as being the male in the videos and he is charged with possessing extreme pornographic images in relation to the clips, jurors heard.

All of the footage was found on two cameras and a mobile phone seized by police from Zou’s Elephant and Castle flat in January 2024, the court was told.

Jurors were given breaks throughout the day as the clips were shown.

Zou is accused of drugging and raping 10 women in total.

The student moved to Belfast in 2017 to study at Queen’s University before heading to London in 2019 to do a master’s degree and then a PhD at UCL.

Zou denies 11 counts of rape as well as three counts of voyeurism, 12 of possession of an extreme pornographic image, one of false imprisonment and eight of possession of a controlled drug with intent to supply.

He will argue that the sexual interactions were consensual, that drugs and alcohol were consumed by the women voluntarily, and that some of the footage captured involved role playing, jurors were told.

The trial continues.