Chetham’s violin teacher in court over rape charge
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Version 0 of 1. A violin teacher from one of the UK’s top music schools has appeared in court charged with raping and indecently assaulting one of his pupils. Wen Zhou Li, 59, will stand trial next year accused of sexually abusing a teenage girl at Chetham’s school of music between March 1996 and May 1997. At Manchester magistrates court on Thursday, Chinese-born Li was told his case would be transferred to the crown court because the alleged offences were so serious. He spoke to confirm his name, date of birth and Cheshire address before being released on bail, to return to Manchester crown court on 6 November. As part of his bail conditions he is not allowed to have unsupervised access with children under 18, or any contact with the complainant. In February Li became the first man to be charged as part of operation Kiso, a police investigation into historic sexual abuse at music schools in Manchester. He was immediately suspended by the school pending the inquiry. The investigation began after the trial of Michael Brewer, former head of music at Chetham’s, who was convicted in January 2013 of indecently assaulting a teenage pupil. His victim, the violinist Frances Andrade, killed herself after giving evidence against him. Last month the conductor Nicholas Smith was sentenced to eight months in prison after admitting sexually assaulting a 15-year-old pupil at Chetham’s in the 1970s. The 66-year-old pleaded guilty to the “serious” assault, which took place at his cottage in the Peak District when he was about 30. |