Girl found not guilty in Hebei homicide case

The bail for a female university student of Hebei province, whose parents killed her harasser during an attack in August, has been withdrawn, meaning she is not guilty, Beijing News reported on Tuesday. Her parents remain in custody.

An announcement by Laiyuan Public Security Bureau said the student with the alias Wang Xiaoyu shouldn't be subject to criminal charges in line with the law.

"It means she is not guilty," defense lawyer Wang Wenguang was quoted as saying.

Wang Xiaoyu and her parents were detained in July for killing a man surnamed Wang who invaded their home at night in a village in Laiyuan with an extendable baton and a fruit knife and had physical conflict with them, according to local police.

A report by China Central Television said the man sexually assaulted Wang on April 29 last year, the day after she refused his romantic overtures.

The two met each other in February at a restaurant in Beijing, where Wang worked with her mother during winter vacation.

After the rejection, the man frequently harassed Wang and her family by coming to her home or university and demanding to meet her, the report said.

During his last harassment attempt on July 11, Wang and his parents were attacked by the man and wounded, and the harasser was struck with a kitchen knife, a wooden stick and a spade, according to an investigation by local police.

"After the man fell to the ground, Wang's mother Zhao Yinzhi struck his neck with a kitchen knife," the investigation concluded, adding the man died of a hemorrhagic shock after a craniocerebral injury. 

Wang and his parents were detained the next day and she was later released on bail pending trial.

In August, her parents were arrested on suspicion of intentional homicide under the approval of the People's Procuratorate of Laiyuan county.

Heated discussion was triggered online about whether the case was justifiable self-defense after the harasser started trespassing and attacking. 

Some of them argued that the parents' protection should get more support. "I can't accept that they were detained because they had done nothing wrong to protect themselves," Weibo user Jianzhang2019_30189 said.