An American film student has been jailed for life after stabbing his girlfriend inside her London flat and trying shift the blame to her.
Chinese student Zhe Wang, 31, died in her home after being murdered by her on-and-off boyfriend and fellow Goldsmiths student, Joshua Michals, 26.
Ms Wang, a creative writing student, had a bright future ahead of her, and she was about to publish her poetry at the time of her death in Lewisham, southeast London.
She was found with two stab wounds to her face inside her Manor Park flat on March 20, 2024, leading investigators to Michals, a film student from Chicago, who accused Ms Wang of trying to attack him first in an apparent misunderstanding over a sexually transmitted infection (STI).
Judge Richard Marks KC said today as he sentenced Michals: ‘My conclusion is that you became enraged by the whole situation. In a fury you lost complete control of your temper and your senses.’
He said that the film student inflicted two serious wounds on Ms Wang’s face using one of her kitchen knives, and that the second wound involved ‘a use of force.’
In her victim impact statement, Ms Wang’s cousin, Xiao Li Wang, said today it was difficult express ‘the emotions and heartbreak of losing a close family member.’
The cousin, who joined via a video link in China, said the family thought they were being scammed when they first received a call about her death in the UK.
She said: ‘Nobody wanted to believe what we had been told, it felt like something you see in the movies.
‘Zhe was so positive, hardworking, passionate about life and yet something so cruel had happened to her.’
This Is Not Right
On November 25, 2024 Metro launched This Is Not Right, a campaign to address the relentless epidemic of violence against women.
With the help of our partners at Women’s Aid, This Is Not Right aims to shine a light on the sheer scale of this national emergency.
You can find more articles here, and if you want to share your story with us, you can send us an email at vaw@usnewsrank.com.
Read more:
The judge said that the evidence showed that Ms Wang was ‘a hugely talented writer, a gentle and kindly young woman, private and sensitive and it would seem to me someone emotionally fragile.’
During his trial last year, Michals tried to shift the blame for the incident to Ms Wang, accusing her of first attacking him with a knife when she came out of the bathroom.
Michals accused Ms Wang of being ‘germaphobic’ and that she had become upset when she thought incorrectly that she had contracted an STI from him after finding a red dot on her skin after they had sex.
Jurors were told that Michal never had an STI.
Michals went on to claim that Ms Wang was ‘cold’ and curt with him when he visited her with a charcuterie board to try resolve the ‘bizarre situation’ amid their casual relationship.
But prosecutors argued previously that Michals had ‘flown into a rage’ and killed Ms Wang.
It was later discovered that Michals had called his dad before calling 999 and alerting the emergency services.
He took Ms Wang’s phone and threw it into a bin. Detectives found her phone days later at a waste site in Newham, east London.
Ms Wang, described as a ‘remarkable writer and thinker’ by colleagues, had suffered stab wounds to the head and compression to the neck.
Michals said previously he had pressed his forearm on her neck to try to restrain her, and that he did not intend to kill her.
The jury, however, found him guilty during the trial at the Old Bailey last month.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@usnewsrank.com.
For more stories like this, check our news page.
Discover more from USNewsRank
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.