NEWS
Henrietta Paget KC and Rebecca Foulkes prosecute defendant convicted of murder
Henrietta Paget KC and Rebecca Foulkes prosecuted Joshua Michals for the murder of Zhe Wang following a trial at the Central Criminal Court which concluded yesterday with a unanimous verdict of guilty.
Ms Wang was a Chinese national, aged 31 at the time of her death. Mr Michals is an American national, now aged 26. The two had met at Goldsmiths, where they were both studying, in September 2023. Ms Wang was found by police officers dead in her bedroom at her address in Hither Green on the night of 20th March 2024. She had died as a result of a sustained physical assault that resulted in blood loss from two stab wounds to the head, as well as compression to the neck (strangulation). The neuropathology evidence proved that she had survived for 30-60 minutes after brain injury caused – on the prosecution evidence – by compression to her neck.
After killing her, Mr Michals turned off her bedroom light, left her flat and disposed of the knife he had used along with Ms Wang’s phone and the sliders he had been wearing during the attack. He got an Uber home and made calls to his father in the United States and then to a UK firm of solicitors. He finally called 999 approximately 3 hours after leaving Ms Wang’s flat. When police arrived at his flat in Deptford, officers noted that Mr Michals had started packing and he had his passport in his pocket. Blood-stained clothing was found in a bin bag in his living room and his jeans were recovered from the washing machine. Mr Michals declined to answer any questions in interview. The phone seized from Mr Michals on arrest was examined and it was discovered that he had deleted the entire WhatsApp chat between him and Ms Wang. However, the police were able to retrieve all of the messages, many of which went before the jury.
The jury heard evidence from five different experts called by the prosecution: a blood spatter expert, a pathologist, a neuropathologist, an expert in non-fatal strangulation, and an A&E consultant and rejected the account given by Mr Michals in evidence that Ms Wang had attacked him and he had acted in lawful self-defence.
Sentence will take place at a later date.
Henrietta and Rebecca were instructed by Mayanthi Silva in the Homicide Unit, CPS London North.
Press link here:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c0r91895pkxo
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/joshua-michals-murder-zhe-wang-goldsmith-b2880371.html