The Higher People’s Court in Shandong Province today overturned a life imprisonment and reduced the sentence to five yearsto a man for intentional injury in a high profile loan shark killing case which grabbed nationwide headlines.

　　Yu Huan, 23, was found guilty of stabbing four of his mother’s debt collectors, one of whom later died, on April 14, 2016, in his mother’s factory in Guanxian County in Liaocheng City. Yu’s sentence was greatly reduced because he “excessively defended” himself after the debt collectors beat and insulted them and one of them exposed himself to his mother, the court said.

　　Yu’s action meets the definition of “justifiable defense,” thus he can have a lighter punishment, the court said.

　　Yu was given life imprisonment in an earlier trial by Liaocheng Intermediate People’s Court in February.

　　Yu’s mother Su Yinxia borrowed more than 1 million yuan (US$145,934) from Wu Xuezhan in 2014 and 2015 and agreed to a 10 percent monthly interest. In April last year, Wu sent his henchmen to Su’s office to demand repayment, including the man who was killed, Du Zhihao, the Shandong Higher People’s Court heard.

　　Du slapped Yu, cursed them, took off his pants and exposed himself in front of Su and forced Su to smell Yu’s shoes while others pushed Yu and pulled out his hair, the court said.

　　The local police were called to Su's office by Yu’s uncle at 10:13pm, but after questioning the quarreling parties for a few minutes, they left without detaining anyone. The dispute then escalated with Yu resorting to violence.

　　'Justifiable defense'

　　The case sparked outrage as details surfaced that Yu went on the slaying spree after the one of the debt collectors exposed himself to his mother. Netizens questioned whether the punishment was too harsh for a desperate son who was trying to protect his mother and whether there was any police misconduct involved because although officers were called to the scene they failed to protect Yu and his mother.

　　The Supreme People’s Procuratorate then launched a review to examine whether Yu’s action meets the definition of “justifiable defense.”

　　Shandong People’s Procuratorate said police officers only gave verbal warnings to the debt collectors and waited outside to call for reinforcement because they were understaffed in May after an investigation.

　　The prosecutors wouldn’t open a criminal case against the policewoman and two auxiliary officers who handled the debt dispute on April 14, 2016, because it didn’t find negligence. However, their handling of the situation was not standard enough.

　　Two auxiliary officers were fired and several police officers given warnings or demotion as they failed to protect the safety of Yu and his mother or take control of the confrontation while they were held hostage by debt collectors, the disciplinary watchdog of Guanxian County said in May.