Woman confronted PhD student over alleged rape

Zhenhao Zou denies all 35 charges against him

A young Chinese woman has described how she confronted a PhD student weeks after he allegedly raped her while she was drunk and unconscious in his south London home.

The complainant, who cannot be named for legal reasons, also told Inner London Crown Court that she was woken up by Zhenhao Zou having sex forcefully with her.

She told the jury that in a phone call a few weeks later "he said to me that he thought I was conscious at the time, but I didn't agree".

Mr Zou, who had come to the UK from China to study at University College London (UCL), is standing trial on charges of raping 10 women, which he denies.

The woman told the jury that she had originally met Mr Zou in August 2021, and they had had consensual sex at his flat in Elephant and Castle.

But giving evidence by video link from China she said that the relationship was difficult.

"I felt that he was trying to keep our relationship as a sexual relationship [only] but I didn't want to do that," she said.

"I wanted to be with him as a boyfriend/girlfriend type of relationship."

In messages on the social media app WeChat shown to the jury, Mr Zou sometimes said he was too busy studying to meet up.

Though he did spend one night at her flat in Canary Wharf.

On 13 September 2021, they met up with friends at a hotpot restaurant in London's Chinatown called Haidilao.

In an interview with police officers played to the jury on Friday the woman said that that night she got very drunk on Jack Daniel's whiskey and woke up to find Mr Zou having sex with her in his student flat.

She told the police she had said "no" before lapsing into unconsciousness again.

'More and more angry'

Speaking via videolink on Monday she said: "At the time I lost my consciousness already.

"With the force of the sex I was woken up and I told him I was on my period."

She said that she left his flat the next morning still very drunk.

She told the jury that in the days afterwards: "I was struggling with myself."

"I didn't know what happened that night whether it was a sexual assault or not.

"At the time my legal view was not as strong as I am now.

"Later I became more and more angry that he did it to me without my permission."

She told the jury that she realised that "what he did at his place was intentional".

'I didn't agree'

On 27 October there were a series of voice messages between her and Zhenhao Zou, and a text message from him saying, "I did not do that thing".

The woman said that in a call on WeChat she had said to Zhenhao Zou "I was in such a condition and yet you still did it to me".

"He said to me that he thought I was conscious at the time, but I didn't agree."

Zhenhao Zou is standing trial at Inner London Crown Court on 11 counts of rape against 10 different women, eight of whom police have been unable to identify.

He denies 35 charges including rape, false imprisonment, voyeurism, possession of extreme pornographic images and possession of controlled drugs with intent to supply.

The trial continues.