MAN JAILED FOR MURDERING FELLOW GOLDSMITHS STUDENT
An American student has been been jailed for life with a minimum term of 16 years for murdering his on-and-off girlfriend in her south-east London home.Joshua Michals, 26, stabbed fellow Goldsmiths University student Zhe Wang, 31, at her flat in Manor Park, Lewisham, in March 2024.
Creative writing student Wang suffered two stab wounds to the face and a post-mortem examination also revealed she had been strangled.
Michals told his Old Bailey trial that he had been acting in self-defence stemming from an argument about a sexually transmitted disease (STD).
Michals, who was found guilty of murder in December following the trial, was sentenced at the same court on Friday.
Michals, born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, studied film-making at university before moving to London to pursue a master's degree at Goldsmiths.
During the trial, prosecutor Henrietta Paget KC said Michals had "flown into a rage" and killed Wang after meeting her at her flat.
He claimed that when he was at the flat in Lewisham, Wang attacked him with a knife.
The court heard that Michals, of Deals Gateway, south-east London, never had an STD.
After the incident, Michals called his father and then contacted a solicitor before calling 999.
The judge said Michals lost complete control of his temper, inflicting severe wounds with a kitchen knife and then throttling Wang in a fury.
The victim’s cousin Xiao Li Wang described the loss as heartbreaking, noting Wang was a talented and passionate young woman.
In a victim impact statement, Wang's cousin expressed how difficult it was to believe she was gone and described her as positive, hardworking, and passionate about life.
