Woman warned of ‘pervert’ now accused of raping 10 women in social media post about her attack, jury told
Woman warned of ‘pervert’ now accused of raping 10 women in social media post about her attack, jury told
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Student Zhenhao Zou, 27, is accused of drugging and raping 10 women and allegedly filmed some attacks while victims were unconscious. The woman told Detective Constable Emily Nice in February 2024 that they were drinking wine together but she began to find him "odd" and wanted to leave but he would not let her go, the court heard previously. On Monday, jurors were played an audio recording of a 999 call she made to police three days after the alleged assault. She eventually told officers she did not want to be involved with the investigation for her mental health but later posted a written warning on the social media applications WeChat and Little Red Book.
The post, translated from Mandarin, was titled “women must read it – a pervert and a dirty man”, prosecutor Catherine Farrelly KC said. In a draft of the post read to the court she described her attacker as someone who “appears to be a rather honest, harmless and dull person” whose “tricks” include continuously giving you alcohol before doing “something bad” while you are unconscious.
“When I woke up I was naked. It was outrageous,” the post said. “I had no memory at all, not a tiny bit. It was also possible that it was so disgusting that I didn’t want to remember this.”. She urged other women to go the police straight away, adding: “I didn’t want to go public because I was concerned that it would damage my reputation. “In the future to a girl when this kind of thing happens to you, call the police. Now I want to share this with you to warn about this person.”.
She said the attack left her feeling angry, helpless and unable to eat or sleep. “This happened three days ago I have not slept,” the post said. “As soon as I go to bed I would start to think about what he had done to me, I have bruises on my hands as a result of me banging on the wall. I have scratch marks on my arms as a result of my fingernails. This would not have happened if he had let me leave.”.
She was later contacted by a second alleged victim of Zou who had read her post, the court heard. In the aftermath of the alleged attack she sent Zou messages saying "you are so disgusting" and "you should feel guilty for what you did”, Ms Farrelly added. Asked by Ms Farrelly what she meant by that, the woman – giving evidence from behind a screen - said: "After I was drunk he raped me and not allowing me to go home.".
At 4.22pm on 20 May the woman sent Zou a message saying "now I just want to expose you", the court heard. In separate messages to one of Zou’s friends, read to the court, she urged: “You are his friend at least tell him that it’s wrong to do something like this.”. The court heard that woman had asked Zou for 90,000 in Chinese currency (£10,000) to stay with him but told the detective that she did not expect the defendant to pay and that this did not allow him to have sex with her.
Police found video footage of the alleged rape filmed on a camera placed by his bed and graphic photographs of the alleged victim in Zou's possession, the jury was told. The woman is one of two of Zou's 10 alleged victims who have been identified by police. Zou, 27, is accused of drugging and raping 10 women in total, including three in London and seven in China, jurors heard. Prosecutors say he filmed nine of the alleged victims, the footage of which was played in court last week.
Zou, from China, 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. He 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.