A man is on trial for the rape and murder of a singer and model who was found dead in a Guangzhou hotel room after they had a one night stand last year, Information Daily reports.

“Jasmine” or Wang Haohan

“Jasmine”, whose real name was Wang Haohan was a 24 year-old graduate of Hunan University of Commerce. She became a minor celebrity after reaching the last six of a talent show on Hunan Television and doing a lot of modelling work. She met a man surnamed Yu at the birthday party of a mutual friend on June 14 last year. The following day, they met together with eight other friends and drank seven bottles of foreign wine.

Afterwards, Yu took Wang back to a hotel on Binjiang East Road in Zhujiang District where they had sex. Wang was found dead at 3 a.m. the following morning. Yu was immediately arrested on suspicion of rape.

The initial autopsy showed that Wang had died of alcohol poisoning. The parents rejected this, and on August 14, two months after Wang’s death, a further autopsy showed that Wang also suffered from respiratory and circulatory failure.

Friends who were with them at the bar said Wang could barely walk by the end of the evening. Yu told the judge that he then asked Wang where she was going. She said: “I’m going wherever you are,” Yu told Haizhu District People’s Court.

Yu claims that when they were in the hotel room, he went into the bathroom to get some toilet paper to wipe a small amount of vomit off Yu’s face. When he got back, she had undressed herself, Yu said. He thought she was too tired to have sex so decided to just go to sleep, but then later in the night, they did. Yu says Wang was conscious and did not refuse.

Experts at Sun Yat Sen University said there is no way Wang could not have acted autonomously after drinking so much.

So, Yu’s case depends on convincing the court that the sex was consensual. They had only met twice but Yu pointed to a WeChat message from Wang saying “I miss you” on the night before she died. Yu also claims that Wang was bisexual and was known to have sexual relationships with friends without becoming romantically involved. Wang’s father told media last year that there was very strong evidence that she was murdered, but this will be hard to prove.

As well as seeing justice done, Wang’s parents, who divorced during her early childhood, want 3.7 million yuan in compensation. Wang’s distraught mother took to the witness stand, Yu’s mother was also there but did not take to the witness stand or talk to reporters.