Alleged student rapist’s ‘favourite’ pornography was sleeping women – court

A Chinese PhD student who is accused of drugging and raping 10 women said his “favourite” pornography involved sleeping women, a trial has heard.

Zhenhao Zou, 27, is accused of drugging and raping three women in London and seven in China between 2019 and 2023.

Speaking through a mandarin interpreter, Zou told jurors at Inner London Crown Court on Monday that he watched “specialist timestop” pornography more than other genres.

Asked by his lawyer Mark Cotter KC why that particular genre appealed to him, Zou said: “I like it because the girl appears to be still and quiet when they are having sex.”

Mr Cotter then asked Zou: “What about being asleep?”

The student replied: “Yes, that’s my favourite type. But I could not find that.”

Wearing a navy suit and tie, Zou told jurors he came into contact with cocaine, ecstasy tablets and ketamine from parties and going to nightclubs in London where he was studying at UCL.

Giving evidence as his defence began on Monday morning, Zou said he had suffered from “sleeping problems for a long time” since his time in school.

He told jurors: “I had this problem all the time, I also suffered other conditions because of lack of sleep – for example, loss of hair.”

The student told the court he had bought xanax after meeting a drug dealer at a party because he suffered from insomnia.

Zou said he was born in Guangdong Province in China to a father who works in a state-owned enterprise and a mother who works as a teacher.

Asked what subject he enjoyed studying at school, Zou replied: “I thought studying was boring,” adding that he was good at maths and physics.

Zou told jurors he had not received any sexual education at secondary school and had lost his virginity aged 19.

He said teachers “put a lot of pressure” on students to study, adding he would often finish his schoolwork at 10pm.

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

Zou said he returned to China between March 17 2020 and July 25 2021 because of the Covid pandemic.

He said he was online for “a lot of time” during the pandemic, adding “sometimes, a whole day”.

Zou said he had undertaken cosmetic operations in China including a hair transplant and operations on his eyelids, adding that he often wore makeup.

Prosecutors said Zou appears to be “a smart and charming young man” but is in fact “a persistent sexual predator, a voyeur and a rapist”.

They say Zou filmed nine of the alleged victims, footage of which has been played in court.

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 commit a sexual offence.

The trial continues.