A shocking and tragic incident unfolded at a southeast London flat last year, leaving a young student dead under horrifying circumstances.

Zhe Wang, a 31-year-old creative writing student at Goldsmiths University, has been pictured for the first time following her untimely death.

Wang, who reportedly had a strong fear of germs, was found dead with two stab wounds to her face at her flat in Manor Park, Lewisham, in March.

The Relationship That Turned Deadly

Wang had been in a relationship with Joshua Michals, a 26-year-old fellow student who met her on the Goldsmiths campus.

The court has heard that a misunderstanding over a sexually transmitted disease (STD) sparked a chain of events that ended in tragedy.

Wang had noticed a “red dot” on her skin after the couple had sexual contact and wrongly believed Michals had infected her.

She demanded he get tested and even threatened to track him down on campus to make sure he went to the doctor.

The Fatal Evening

On March 20, Michals visited Wang with a charcuterie selection, hoping to ease the tension in what he described as a “bizarre situation.”

However, when he arrived, he found Wang acting unusually cold and monosyllabic.

Things quickly escalated when Michals went to the bathroom for a moment and returned to see Wang holding a knife.

He described her appearance as “completely crazy,” claiming she looked “possessed” and that it terrified him.

A violent struggle ensued when Michals tried to disarm her, and in the chaos, he struck Wang with the knife.

Michals insists he never intended to harm her and was acting in self-defence. “I just wanted to get her away from me,” he told the court.

A post-mortem revealed Wang died from stab wounds to the head and compression of the neck.

Michals has repeatedly insisted that he did not intend to kill her or cause serious harm, stating he only used force to restrain her.

Prosecutor Henrietta Paget KC, however, argued that Michals had “flown into a rage” and caused Wang’s death intentionally.

Jurors also heard that after the incident, Michals contacted his father, obtained solicitor details, returned to his flat, and called 999.

He had removed Wang’s phone from the kitchen and disposed of it in a nearby bin, where it was later recovered.

Michals, originally from Chicago, Illinois, studied film-making before moving to London for a one-year master’s program at Goldsmiths.

He testified that he met Wang on his first day and spent time with her roughly ten times before her death.

He admitted feeling hesitant about a relationship due to her germ phobia.

Importantly, the court has been told that Michals never had an STD, meaning Wang’s fears were unfounded.

Michals, of Deals Gateway, southeast London, denies murder, and the jury has now retired to consider its verdict.