'If you scream ... I'll kill you:' Tradie strangled, raped woman after hiding behind bedroom door

WARNING: DISTRESSING CONTENT

Just days before he left New Zealand via a one-way ticket to China, an Auckland construction worker donned dark clothes as he went to a previous worksite after hours, bringing with him what amounted to a rapist toolkit: a roll of tape, gloves, a black ski mask, a heavy-duty nylon strap and a knife with a 30cm blade.

He then broke into the bedroom of a stranger who lived next door to the site, strangling her to unconsciousness, binding and gagging her and holding her captive as he subjected her to a series of degrading sexual acts.

Eventually, she was able to fight him off and scream until he fled through her bedroom window.

For a long time after the terrifying March 2024 incident, police knew the rapist to be Xuesong Zhang, a now-42-year-old who had been living in Browns Bay on a temporary work visa. But they were unable to extradite him to New Zealand until September last year, after he moved to Singapore for another construction job.

Zhang will now stay in New Zealand for the foreseeable future, after pleading guilty to myriad charges today in the High Court at Auckland.

Justice Michael Arthur approved the Crown’s request for two psychological reports necessary to seek preventive detention – a sentence without an end date reserved for those considered New Zealand’s most dangerous criminals. Rape usually carries a maximum sentence of 20 years’ imprisonment.

Prosecutor Matthew Nathan said the Crown hasn’t yet decided whether the rare sentencing outcome will ultimately be sought, but he wants to keep all options open.

“At this point, I think an assessment of risk is in everyone’s interests,” he said.

The judge set a sentencing date for December.

With today’s guilty pleas, a full outline of Zhang’s offending can be reported for the first time.

Rapist Xuesong Zhang (left) speaks to an interpreter from inside a High Court at Auckland dock in March 2026 as defence lawyer Sarah Dickson stands to address the judge. Photo / Michael Craig

Court documents state Zhang worked all over the city, but he spent about three weeks on a site in West Auckland next to the victim’s home in late January and early February 2024.

A month-and-a-half later, after spending the day working at a property in Remuera, Zhang drove to the West Auckland construction site and drank three bottles of Tiger Beer in the backyard area.

He then removed his work boots and climbed over the fence to the house where the victim lived with her landlord.

The woman went to use a bathroom adjacent to her bedroom around 8.20pm, and Zhang used the opportunity to hide behind her bedroom door.

He lay in wait, locking the door shut then rushing the woman as she returned to her bedroom.

She screamed, but Zhang pinned her to the bed and covered her mouth with his hand, according to the summary of facts that he has agreed are accurate.

“If you scream again, I’ll kill you,” he told her in Mandarin, placing a hand over her throat and wrapping the tape twice around her head – covering her mouth.

Crown prosecutor Matthew Nathan said the Crown is considering a request for preventive detention. Photo / Jason Oxenham

“Once Mr Zhang was satisfied that [the victim] would not scream, he placed both hands around her throat and began to strangle her,” court documents state. “He then used his forearm to apply significant pressure to her neck.

“[The victim] struggled to breathe throughout this, and her vision went black before she temporarily lost consciousness.”

After she blacked out, Zhang closed her bedroom window and pulled the curtains closed. He then resumed strangling her, using both hands.

The victim’s landlord heard the scream and tried texting her, then knocked on her bedroom door when she got no response.

As she did so, the victim was starting to regain consciousness and Zhang brought his knife to her neck.

“If you [can’t] keep quiet and make [me] happy, I will go out and kill [the landlord],” he warned her.

With still no response, the home owner assumed the victim had experienced a nightmare and left.

“If you can make me happy, I will not kill you,” he then told the victim, asking her if she or her landlord had any money.

She could not answer because her mouth remained gagged.

Zhang used the nylon strap to tie her hands then spent the next hour-and-a-half abusing her. As he did various acts, he would sometimes ask for her consent then ignore the fact she was gagged and being held at knifepoint. He licked and kissed the tape over her mouth.

He returned his knife to the woman’s neck several times and also repeatedly ran it over her body.

The incident only ended after Zhang put down the knife on the bed beside the victim’s head and she was able to think quickly, moving her body to cover the weapon. She then squeezed his genitals with all her strength and kicked him away with both legs.

The tape had become slightly dislodged because of saliva from both her and the assailant, so she screamed out as loud as she could.

Hearing the second scream, the victim’s landlord locked her own bedroom door and asked a male acquaintance who lived nearby to come over. She then called the victim repeatedly over the phone, at one point getting an answer but only hearing faint noises.

When the acquaintance arrived 10 minutes later, they both called out to the victim and knocked on her door.

“Upon hearing another person’s voice, Mr Zhang removed the tape from [the victim’s] mouth and untied her hands,” court documents state.

He collected his items and exited through her window.

Xuesong Zhang enters the dock during his first High Court at Auckland appearance in March 2026. Photo / Michael Craig

The victim, by that point, appeared to have passed out again from the exertion of fighting Zhang off. She did not recall anything after that moment, she later told police.

Once outside the building, Zhang walked to his nearby vehicle and called his girlfriend.

The landlord and the other person outside the victim’s door continued to call for her for nearly 30 minutes before calling 111. When police forced entry into her room, just over an hour after Zhang had fled, they found her still “extremely confused and disoriented”.

She was taken to the hospital with numerous injuries, including deep bruises to her neck and wrists.

Despite the head start, Zhang had remained nearby. His vehicle was caught on CCTV driving around the block just minutes after police arrived.

Police later found his work boots at the neighbouring property. DNA also connected him to the crime.

After his extradition one year ago, Zhang sat down with police and denied having raped anyone.

He said he often went to the construction site next door to relax. On the night of the incident, he had drunk beer at the address and played games on his phone before falling asleep, he told the investigators. He was then startled out of his sleep by a noise, leaving behind his boots as he groggily drove away in fear, he claimed.

When told about the DNA match, he suggested that either he had been framed or the woman was a sex worker.

Zhang pleaded guilty today to eight separate crimes relating to that evening: aggravated burglary, threatening to kill, strangulation, unlawful detainment, indecent assault, assault with a weapon, unlawful sexual connection and rape.

Craig Kapitan is an Auckland-based journalist covering courts and justice. He joined the Herald in 2021 and has reported on courts since 2002 in three newsrooms in the US and New Zealand.

SEXUAL HARM

Where to get help:
If it's an emergency and you feel that you or someone else is at risk, call 111.
If you've ever experienced sexual assault or abuse and need to talk to someone, contact Safe to Talk confidentially, any time 24/7:
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• Text 4334
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Alternatively contact your local police station - click here for a list.
If you have been sexually assaulted, remember it's not your fault.