A tutor who gave his teenage student a “date rape drug” before sexually assaulting her made internet searches about the drug and escaping arrest, a court has heard.
Zhifan Song, 37, faced the Sydney District Court on Friday after pleading guilty to drugging the teenage student and having sexual intercourse without consent at his Chatswood business.
Song handed himself in just hours after the brazen attack and was charged before a long battle through the courts, where he initially pleaded not guilty and was committed to stand trial.
Judge Phillip Mahoney told the court a trial date was set three times, before he changed his plea to guilty on August 30 to two charges – causing a person to take an intoxicating substance with intent to commit an indictable offence (indecent assault) and sexual intercourse without consent.
Two further counts were included as related charges, including causing a person to take an intoxicating substance and aggravated indecent assault by a figure under authority of the offender.
Details of the sickening attack and the bizarre actions of Song, who was diagnosed with schizophrenia when he was 19, were revealed in court on Friday.
Sexual xjmtzywinterest in the victim
Judge Mahony told the court Song’s tutoring sessions would last for a few hours before Song gave her a tea and she would go home.
“At the beginning of 2018, Song began to give the victim capsules before commencing her tutoring session and told her they were nutrition products,” Judge Mahony said.
“Song developed a sexual interest in the victim.”
On January 31, 2018, the court heard Song put an “unknown substance” in a milk tea and gave it to the victim when she arrived, but she only drank a third of it before feeling “dizzy and sick”.
Song later told police he intended to “indecently assault” the teenager, but she became unconscious for 30 minutes at her desk.
He messaged her mother and said she wasn’t feeling well, before organising a taxi to take her home. He sat in the car with her, where she felt “very uncomfortable”.
The internet searches
In October 2018, during the HSC, the teenager had a study session a day before her modern history exam.
The court heard Song conducted multiple internet searches in the 10 minutes before she arrived, including the terms “NSW criminal interstate” and “can I avoid arrest by moving interstate”.
Song searched “Australia+drug+rape” and visited a website for city criminal lawyers, with pages open to assault, sexual offences, aggravated sexual assault and drug offences, the court heard.
He also researched multiple topics to do with rohypnol, a drug Song was prescribed to help with sleep and his schizophrenia.
The searches included: “rohypnol and time”, “blood and adult” and “blood, adult and volume”.
The assault
Judge Mahony said Song cancelled another student’s appointment to ensure no one else was at the school when the girl arrived.
He gave her three capsules, which were the same in appearance as the health supplements he gave her in the prior months.
However, the 37-year-old had secretly inserted 6mg of rohypnol into them.
Judge Mahony told the court the victim didn’t want to take them, but Song told the teenager they wouldn’t be starting the lesson until she took the tablets.
She abided and began a mock examination where she felt “dizzy, confused, unstable and weak”.
The girl went to go to the bathroom before Song intercepted her and lay her down on the floor.
“The victim’s head was turned towards the window away from the defender and he undressed the victim so she was completely naked,” Judge Mahony said.
Song kissed the girl all over her body and touched her outside of her genitalia with his hands as the teenager tried to push him away, but she was “unable to control her body or understand what was happening”.
The girl lost consciousness as Song undressed himself, lay on top of her and had sex with her.
He later told police the entire assault lasted one and a half hours before he redressed the victim and she regained consciousness.
“Please kill me now”
When the teenager woke up, Song helped her to the bathroom before handing her a knife and asking her to stab him, the court heard.
“Please kill me now,” he said, according to Judge Mahony.
The victim responded it “was not that serious that I need to kill you”.
Song replied: “If you don’t destroy me now, wait until I achieve more, then destroy me”.
The confession
As the victim walked home from school she rang her mother who noticed her speech was slurred and fell to the ground twice, having to be assisted by witnesses.
Her mother tried calling her multiple times for an hour before finally getting a hold of her and found her outside a primary school on the ground, struggling to get up, the court heard.
The victim’s mother tried calling Song but he didn’t answer until the third attempt and lied to her about the drugs he had given the teenager.
The court heard her mother noticed scratches and bruises on the victim’s cheek, as well as bruises on both her knees and found her bra inside her backpack, while her underwear and sweater were on back-to-front.
About 10pm, Song went to his parents’ house and told them he had done “very bad things” towards a student, which were “sexual things”.
Song’s mother called the victim’s mother and confessed to what her son had done, saying he “shouldn’t have done it and it was very serious”, but was going to hand himself in to police.
At 5.50am the following day, he attended Hornsby Police Station and confessed to the rape of the teenager, and drugging her nine months earlier.
“He did not tell police about the research he had conducted on the internet prior to the incident,” Judge Mahony said.
Song remained in custody for 54 days until he was granted bail by the court.
The prison sentence
The court heard Song had been diagnosed with schizophrenia when he was 19, but still went on to complete a bachelor’s degree, masters and a PhD.
He told doctors he had hallucinations, “delusions that were not real”, and had attempted suicide twice during the completion of his doctorate.
Song expressed remorse and accepted responsibility for his conduct, the court heard.
Dr Richard Furst, a defence expert witness, said Song was “aware at the time of his offending of the wrongfulness of his actions”.
During the sentence hearing, Crown prosecutor Kate Nightingale said Song had intended to commit the offence when he administered the drug and “used the desire to achieve a good result (in school) to coerce the victim”.
Judge Mahony said Song had the trust of the victim and her mother and used a “sophisticated” degree of planning while abusing his position.
“He was aware of the nature and the serious conduct,” the court heard.
Song was handed an aggregate sentence of six years’ imprisonment, with a non parole period of three years.
It was backdated to February 13 to allow for the 54 days already spent, so he will be eligible for parole on February 12, 2025.
The 37-year-old shook the hands of his lawyers and thanked them before he was taken away by court officers.
