Joshua Michals is accused of leaving partner and fellow student Zhe Wang to die in a ‘pool of blood’. An American student killed his Chinese partner in a “savage attack” after she urged him to take an STI test following sex, a court heard. Zhe Wang, 31, was found dead in a “pool of blood” by police last March after she was allegedly attacked by 25-year-old Joshua Michals, a fellow student at Goldsmiths, University of London.
![[The trial is being heard at Woolwich Crown Court]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/15/16/Woolwich-Crown-Court.jpg)
Michals is now on trial at Woolwich Crown Court for Ms Wang’s murder, accused by prosecutors of leaving her “face-up on her bedroom floor with two penetrating stab wounds to the face, lying in a pool of blood soaked into the carpet”. He denies the charge.
In the run-up to Michals’s visit to Ms Wang’s flat, she had been pushing him to take an STI test “against his resistance” after she noticed a rash on her body after they had intercourse. WhatsApp chats show Ms Wang had accused him of “ruining her life and threatening to ask the university for help”.
Henrietta Paget KC, prosecuting, told the court that Michals called for an ambulance at 11.08pm on 20 March 2024, explaining there had been a “very serious incident” in Ms Wang’s flat in Manor Park, Lewisham. Michals told the call operator that he did not think Ms Wang was breathing and was not at the address. He was phoned back by police, and said there had been a “knife incident” and “it was really bad”, Ms Paget said.
