Student claims he accidentally killed girlfriend after she accused him of giving her STI

An American student told a court he killed his "germaphobic" girlfriend accidentally after she accused him of giving her an STI and attacked him with a knife. Victim Zhe Wang, 31, was found in her bedroom in a pool of blood after police broke in on March 20 last year.

Her boyfriend Joshua Michals, 26, had called 999 saying there had been a 'knife incident' at her flat in Manor Park, Hither Green. When police arrived, he said: "It's not what it seems". The students had only been seeing each other for a few months and had slept together once.

Ms Wang was studying an MA in Creative Writing and Education at Goldsmiths, University of London, and hoped to become a teacher, while Mr Michals was doing an MA in filmmaking. He denies murder.

He gave evidence at the Old Bailey on Tuesday wearing a light blue jumper over a white shirt with blue trousers.

Michals said he and Ms Wang had sex for the first time in February 2024 but she became concerned about a rash she had developed and accused him of giving her an STI.

She demanded he take an STI test, saying she would kill herself if he had given her a disease.

Michals said that on March 20 last year, he went to her home to try and calm the situation, taking strawberries, grapes, cheese, crackers and salami with him to make a charcuterie board.

He said when he came out of the toilet Ms Wang was waiting for him with a knife in her hand. Michals said she looked "completely crazy, she had this wicked look in her eye". He described her as “demented", adding: "I'm tempted to say possessed. It scared the hell out of me."

Michals said Ms Wang came towards him quickly with the knife and he grabbed her wrist. He said they struggled with the knife, and Ms Wang sustained a stab wound in the face. Michals said he managed to get knife away from her and turned away from her.

He said she seemed "crazy" and "completely psychotic". Michals said she began grabbing for the knife again, and he “jolted" with the knife, causing another wound to her face.

He said he did not intend to stab her with the knife, saying it was a "jolt of panic in the moment”. Michals said the knife remained in her face, and he let go of it, but she continued to attack him. He said they went to the ground and he took the knife out of her face.

Michals said he pushed down on her neck with his forearm. He said: "I was trying to calm her down, trying to restrain her until she stopped."

But then she stopped moving and Michals said he believed she was dead.

He said: "She wasn't moving, there was nothing to make me feel like she was still there. I felt shock, that heart-dropping realisation of it all, and then the panic came swooping back in. The whole situation and seeing her was too much for me."

He said he panicked, picked up the knife and put it in the bin before going to the bathroom and washing the blood off his hands and face.

"I couldn't handle being covered in blood, it was the worst thing ever," he said. He said he "couldn't handle being there", so he grabbed the food he had brought and put it in the bin.

The killer said he also put Ms Wang's phone in the bin because it was next to the food, adding:  "I was so lost in the moment, I just grabbed it and threw that in the bin as well." He also put the sliders he was wearing in the bin.

Mr Michals said he took the bin bag outside with him and threw it in the communal bins before getting an Uber back to his flat. He said he changed his clothes before phoning his father and his solicitor, Paul, and then called 999.

Brian St Louis, KC, defending, asked: "Did it occur to you to call 999 before that?" He replied: "I wasn't ready for it and I didn't see the rush."

He added, "I didn't think there was anything to be done in terms of sending help to her; I thought she was gone already."

He said he deleted WhatsApp messages between them on his phone in a “panic", denying this was related to the reason he threw her phone in the bin.

Michals insisted he did not intend to kill Ms Wang or cause her any harm, saying: "I had to do something, I didn't want to die myself, I was just trying to keep her away from me."

Prosecutor Henrietta Paget, KC, said Ms Wang would have survived the injuries to her neck for 30 to 60 minutes.

She said Michals did not leave the flat for more than 30 minutes. She said: "While you were pacing in the lounge, Ms Wang's life was ebbing away in the bedroom."

Michals accepted this was true if the pathologist's estimation was accurate.

He said his father is a sales executive at a company, and his mother is a graphic designer. Michals, of Deals Gateway, Deptford, denies murder. The trial continues.